


Kumquat

by 96hearts



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Eventual Romance, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Some Established Relationships, no one will give me 96’ line so i’m doing it MYSELF
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-01-15 17:27:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18503653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/96hearts/pseuds/96hearts
Summary: The student council of Bassanio College would work in conjunction with a collection of volunteer students from various majors and successful school-organized clubs to prepare for the annual Bassanio College Local Farmers Market that would begin on March 22nd.Ah, The Farmer's Market.Ten's worst nightmare.





	1. March of the Kumquats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a short spring semester for DoTenKun at Bassanio College. What awaits them for the annual Farmer's Market this year?

[]

**Friday, March 22nd**

Spring was brimming in the atmosphere as the air grew thick from humidity filling with pollen and heavy heat. The trees grew fuller, overflowing with green and flowers budding on an occasional branch. Walking paths had impressions of shoe marks again, showing where young couples and families had made their journeys in and out of the small college town. Antony Square was more than quiet during the winter months. Nothing but deserted laundry houses and empty dormitories filling the spaces that followed along the streets that would wait to be wandered for warmer weather. Now that the sun was no longer shying away from the masses, projects would resume, paths would be walked, and the square would awaken from its winter slumber once again.

The campus was alive. Hurried feet rushing from possibly failed physics exams to another necessary humanities course. The students slowly reviving from their frozen winter carcasses to budding daisies in bloom for this year’s courses. This semester, however, did not hesitate with time.  

January came but did not stay for much longer; February following suit.

By the end of March, the student council of Bassanio College would work in conjunction with a collection of volunteer students from various majors and successful school-organized clubs to prepare for the annual Bassanio College Local Farmers Market that would begin on March 22nd.

Ah, The Farmer's Market.

Ten's worst nightmare.

Not that the farmer’s market wasn’t mostly a _wonderful_ idea.

It was relatively convenient for all of the older people who lived close by who wanted fresh produce and couldn’t make the drive into the central city to the grocery store; the ag students kept composting buckets out for the 3 weeks that the market was around;  it increased the campus’ overall recycling average by 43% (Doyoung had woken him up in a dead sleep after his statistics class to show him the numbers for their sophomore year’s market), and in a pinch after practice, there were some palatable things to eat when the cafeteria and everything else was just.. closed for the evening. 

Overall, entirely positives.

Though, the pleading puppy dog eyes, he could do without.

Ten was a junior double majoring in business and dance -with a focus in performance- he could do without the dramatics and upselling. Not only that, it was his _friends_ that he was having to say no to. That was the truly bothersome part.

Doyoung, he could possibly manage.

Doyoung mostly sold organically produced vitamins and minerals, which Ten had stocked up on aplenty during their freshman year and _still_ used faithfully. His aquarian roommate was more than aware of that fact given that he volunteered for the weekend chore of cleaning and reorganizing the bathroom. (He always organized Ten’s vitamins by name, instead of size, which Ten hated but _“lactose supplements before laxatives_ ” Doyoung always said.)  They were always at odds to begin with. The two operated less like fire and ice and more like flames of different hues. One would spark up a fight, igniting the other but they would never be able to extinguish anything on their own.  But, what would the universe expect from two people who preferred the Oreo cookie to the crème middle section?

On the other hand, Kun was the neutralizer.

He was easy to rile up, the most fun to pick on, but always eager to help. A gentle, inherently kind, and nurturing person. His mind differed greatly, steering him to major in international relations. Ten had always guessed that’s where his tendency to string along an argument “for fun” had come into fruition. He was passionate in school and in the state of the world’s affairs.  

The native Chinese man was slightly rigid but overall an incredibly pleasant person, which made having to tell him, “ _No Kun, I cannot take anymore of your homemade, hand rolled cookies and freeze them. I have a showcase for my final. You know this. We share a fridge”_ much more difficult.  

Though his two roommates thought Ten had an easy time pushing them away, saying no to them was even harder than he imagined.

And it was only going to get worse.

 

* * *

  

**7:14 a.m. Friday.**

Ten walked out to their breakfast bar, watching Kun successfully fry another egg and slip it onto a third plate that sat atop the granite. He was entirely too thoughtful, it really should be a character flaw but then, how could the current brunette know anything about being imperfect?

Ten had to mess with him. He looked so happy. He was begging for it. That unadulterated happiness?  It was making him feel physically brighter. And that had to stop. It was too early.

“Thanks for breakfast, Kun! I hope you didn’t have problems getting out of bed this morning to make it!” 

Kun looked slightly confused for a moment, turning the heat of the stove off and running cool water on the underside of the vibrant blue ceramic pans that he so loved.

“I got outta bed just fine, thank y-” 

Ten looked up from his eggs, a glint in his eyes, smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. “What with your old age. I don’t want you to pull anything. I could teach you some stretches if you ever needed any help.” Ten quickly adorned a set of puppy eyes and a shiny, plastic smile on his face, showing off his pearly whites. Kun looked at him for a split second with surprise, only melting a moment later into an eye roll that turned into mild annoyance and tender affection.

Kun noted as he sighed, “We are only a few months apart, Ten.”

Ten pursed his lips, as if in deep thought, waiting for the Keurig sitting diagonally from his hands to finish brewing his first deep roast of Americano for the day. “You’re right. I should always listen to my elders.”

Kun rolled his eyes again, slapping the side of Ten’s shoulder as he passed by him from the kitchen, through the living room, into the hallway that lead to their separate bedrooms.

For the most part, every morning was like this.     

Kun would wake up at the hind’s end of the morning, the sun barely spilling over the horizon’s peak, as he stretched, tumbled out of bed, and padded quietly off to the shower. This worked well with Doyoung and Ten who preferred night showers and also could definitely be mistaken for the devil’s incarnates in the wee hours of the morning. Ten, a notoriously light sleeper, would hear the weight of the wooden floors in their shared hallway creak ever so slightly and he would be awake, stretching his thin but muscular arms up into the sky, covers leaving his body.  He looked at his clock, ‘6:45’ glowing obnoxiously bright in his eyes, as he groaned quietly, abandoning his bed to get dressed for the day. 

Doyoung, was a much different story during the month of March.

While his other two roommates were getting ready, he laid in a strewn pile of too many blankets, tens of pillows, and a hand like clockwork prepared to press the ‘snooze’ button again and again on his phone. This was the first day of the Farmer’s Market and as the treasurer, throwing together budget goals and financial limits for the past month had only brought him more stress.Typically, he was well put-together.  The depiction of “orderly”. Hair always in a sleek fashion, tossed in the front like a velour curtain, dressed sharply, and backpack tidy.

For the past two weeks, he had granola crumbs collecting at the bottom of his backpack pockets, a mop hidden beneath -admittedly too many- bucket hats, and had only managed to adorn Adidas tracksuits.

The three juniors would all meet in their shared living room by 8:15  and review their differing schedules for the day to decide whether to grab dinner for the whole apartment or fend for themselves.

“Well, I get out of class by 2:00. I can run by that Viet Taste place and get a small party platter.” Doyoung voiced, stepping into his shoes.

“That’d be nice but how are we going to fit it in our damn fridge? Kun has it entirely stocked up!” 

Kun sighed heavily at that, resting his hand on his temple and shifting his weight onto their front door.

“The fridge will be mostly empty by 1:30. After my Victorian Literature class, I’m heading straight to the conference room to meet the President and VP and all the volunteers. I finally got the name plates and cards for the booths made! We’ll be starting tod-” 

Ten covered his ears with his hands while Doyoung tried to pry them away, smiling devilishly as he questioned Ten with a mocking tone. 

“What’s wrong? Are you afraid Jaehyun is going to spoon-feed you beet juice again?”

Kun covered his mouth with his hands, unsuccessfully biting back a laugh.

They had all promised to suppress that nightmare from sophomore year.  

Ten decided in that moment that his closest enemy shared a bathroom with him.

Kim Dongyoung. (He wouldn’t lump Kun in there with him but… he was on thin fucking ice.)

 

After getting Ten to face the Farmer’s Market impending start date, they settled on Doyoung grabbing dinner for that night and meeting up with Kun for student council discussion and first day market affairs.

If only Ten could be unloyal, untrustworthy, a slimeball amongst men, he might be able to avoid the desperate pleas for _“Please do try our fresh coffee! We grind the beans ourselves!”_ or _“This was my great great aunt’s famous tomato sauce recipe! She left it in her will for me!”_

But Ten was, unfortunately, a decent human being who always asked to borrow Kun’s phone charger in the morning and always returned it before dance practice. Could he bring his own? Of course. Though, the Thai man was incredibly forgetful and Kun always came expertly prepared with an 8ft long charger. There was _no way_ he was passing that up.

Classes moved by in a blur. Ten daydreaming about vacationing in lands that his mind could not place while doodling along the sides of his notes, making sure to relate them at least mildly to the lesson. Could a chromosome have freckles? He decided that they definitely could.

After a final business lecture he desperately wanted to forget about, he marched to Antony Square in search of his favorite school-spirited roomies.

What he found was more than he had bargained for.

 

* * *

 

**3:15 p.m. Friday**

Bassanio College had quite a generous sized campus, taking up a little over a quarter of the small town. The grounds that the market took place on were covered by a large pavilion, roughly the size of a small concert hall. The annual market, which was celebrating its fourth year with senior and founder, President Lee Taeyong, had thought of this to be weather-conscious and to give the students an opportunity to enjoy their food and handmade goods by the shady trees and benches next to the pavilion. 

However, this year, there were double the amount of volunteers. The pavilion filled so past its brim that a few students had to take purchase on the open grassy patch caddied slightly in front of the pavilion, selling refreshing beverages underneath a seasonally-appropriate spring umbrella.

It was too much. Ten was really going to meet his demise before his junior year’s end. 

He walked over quickly, averting his eyes from any of the vendors. The petite man thought that he could not move fast enough, throwing his hands up at a few classmates that he actually enjoyed the presence of. Why the fuck did the student council have to set their booths at the entire opposite end every single year?

He was almost there, legs burning slightly from how fast he was walking. To others, he probably looked strange, fast-walking through a pavilion covered head to toe with pretty fairy lights wrapped around the posts, paper lanterns hanging off every few rails from the ceiling, the smell of homemade muffins and the richness of coffee beans wafting through the air. But he did not want another Jaehyun or Johnny or god forbid Taeil.

Kun and Doyoung walked up to Ten then, Kun reaching his arms out for a hug while Doyoung grabbed for the smiley capricorn’s charger at the same time that one brave freshman decided to make a sale.

“Hi! Would yo-” 

“Fuck.” Ten silently cursed himself as he stared at Kun and Doyoung, faces morphing into that of clear amusement as they heard the same voice Ten had. The voice of someone just trying to do their job. Probably some sweet, dumb freshman. Maybe it would be easy?

Ten slowly turned around, taking a deep breath and preparing to politely decline the kid’s offer when...

“-u like to try our kumquat curd? It’s actually not that sweet. Most people are under the impression that it will be but kumquats have a naturally sour quality while the skin itself is pretty sweet. We have some dried kumquat dusted with powdered sugar if you’d like to try that as well?”

“ _Oh fuck_ _.”_

He could feel a shift. The tips of his ears were turning red, heart stuttering, mouth a little drier. Maybe kumquat would help. He’d never had it before. Why would he be so hard on this perfectly kind freshman?

“Sure! Uh, I’ll try one!” Ten said, unexpectedly eager.

“Oh really?? Great!” The vendor without a name tag responded with pleasant surprise in his voice.

Ten would definitely be giving Kun shit about his lack of professionalism about not representing all of the Market’s staff members later on.

The shorter man shifted his weight slightly, trying to relax. The -probably freshman- at the booth hurriedly asked his two other partners for help while they collected sample cups, spooning three different colored goops into separate cups. The boy came back to the head of the booth again, palm up with three tiny cups in his large, soft-looking hand and a test-tasting spoon in the other.

Ten couldn’t figure out why that was so endearing but he’d pocket it away for later. 

The vendor boy smiled brightly, all his teeth showing, lighting up his entire face. His hair fanning in his large, deep-set brown eyes. 

“Well, here ya go! You’re our first customer of the day so I decided, why not let you try all three flavors??”

Ten smiled a small smile to himself at the boy’s generosity. “Thanks, uh, sorry... I don’t know your name.”

Missing information, Ten’s current new friend.

The boy looked down at his shirt while handing the samples over to Ten’s welcoming palm, laughing quietly to himself.

“Ah, well, you can call me forgetful if you want. I just transferred here. I’m a freshman in my second semester and I keep leaving my things.. everywhere.”

Ten could hear Doyoung and Kun’s judgment and impatience rolling off of them but he couldn’t bring it to the forefront of his mind to care.

“That’s nice, forgetful. But, um, your government name.”

The guy smiled again, a tint of a blush playing at his cheekbones. “Wong Kun Hang, but I usually go by Hendery! And you?”

At that, Ten pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his spoon-holding hand, dipping the tip into the first yellow looking curd.

“I have so many names so, to save you some time, I go by Ten. I’ll give you the full spiel about the rest of them later.” 

 _Hendery_ looked at the shorter man, visibly satisfier by that. He went back around the booth to grab some napkins and to tell him more about their kumquat products. Ten stood, in a daze, nibbling and nodding happily along.

Meanwhile, his forgotten roommates stood behind Ten, bemused, entertained, and only mildly annoyed. Ten had been avoiding the farmer’s market since its second week their freshmen year. After Public Relations officer Johnny roper him into a 30-minute speech about the importance of fibrous oats, all while serving him bad coffee, he had decided that he detested the annual event. This was a strange - but welcomed - change.

Doyoung realized it was up to him to keep their current reality somewhat stable.

"So.. who's gonna tell him?"

"Tell him…what exactly?"

"That the one dumbass who both hates and is possibly allergic to kumquat is gripping onto three kumquat curd samples to keep the cute vendor's attention."

Kun sighed, a smile playing on his lips.

“He doesn’t eat fruit. That doesn’t mean he’s allergic. Good point though. You sound like you care about him.”

Doyoung stared at his friend blankly for a moment, then hummed.

“You’re right. That _does_ make me sound like I care about him. And we really don’t need anything else super confusing to happen today.”

While Doyoung and Kun headed back to the main council’s table, Ten was getting somewhat lost in the world of kumquats.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you made it to the end of this, you've just finished chapter one of this fic!
> 
> i haven't posted anything in.. years. so, i really hope you enjoy this. i do have a twitter and cc and everything else but i won't be posting that information until the next update which i should do regularly every week or every two weeks.  
> please feel free to leave comments on anything that i can improve on or tell me what you enjoyed!
> 
> we all love tendery and this tag needs more love so i hope you all can enjoy this little au i have in my head. there may be some spinoffs of side ships but for the time being, this will be my focus.
> 
> stan nct, stan wayv, eat some kumquats.
> 
> thank you so much for your time!
> 
> \- Kun's conscience


	2. Those Damn Freshmen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doyoung huffed, crossing his arms. Ten, like clockwork, mirrored him almost exactly. Kun silently laughed, rolling his eyes.
> 
> “Alright guys, so today was pretty..”
> 
> “Exhausting. I could be dead and still be tired!”
> 
> “Bearable... somehow.”
> 
> Kun relaxed slightly, feeling familiar with their tone of voice as both men spoke up.
> 
> “Today was pretty interesting, to say the least.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * a few things to keep in mind *
> 
> \- please remember to read time stamps because this story will not stay strictly chronological  
> \- most of this is in Ten's point of view (for now)  
> \- Yes, I made 99' and '00 line all freshmen because I say so  
> \- This is still a Tendery fic, I'm just introducing characters.  
> \- That is all. Please enjoy!!

 

**9:00 p.m. Friday**

In short, Ten looked like a wreck. His black hair splayed out across his forehead, glasses hanging haphazardly from his face as he squished his side into the shared living room couch, staring at his -now- _four_  ounces of kumquat curd, artsy key-chain, two tiny sample baggies of German chocolate, three protein bars, and one freshly potted plant. To a stranger, the thai man probably looked completely downtrodden, as if he’d lost an opportunity for a company promotion. The truth, however, was that he had given in to the marketing ploys of his fellow classmates. What the fuck was _happening_ to him?

As he recounted the day’s events, Kun and Doyoung barreled through the door, arms filled with bags and bags of farmer’s market garb, backpacks somehow clinging to both of them through all their groceries. Normally, Ten would offer to assist (at least Kun) but his current state of internal turmoil could not be put on hold. Doyoung decided that no amount of existential dread would keep Ten from putting food away in their, now completely vacant,  fridge. 

“There’s still Viet Taste on the stove and we brought some vegetables to make side dishes out of. Though, it seems that you’ve already moved on to dessert.”  Doyoung smirked before groaning as he lifted and placed bags of fresh vegetables and bread onto the counter top in their kitchen.

Chuckling softly, Ten's cheerier roommate, followed behind his lanky companion while Ten dramatically flopped on his back, letting out a drawn-out sigh when the couch embraced him from a new angle. Kun cleared his throat as he loaded fresh corn and greens into the fridge, looking at Ten from the corner of his eye.

“Is there anything we can do for you, Your Highness? Or will you be gracing us with your presence soon?”

Ten huffed as he bounded onto his feet, stomping childishly into the kitchen. The tallest of the three wrapped his arm loosely around Ten’s shoulder and patted him in mock sympathy.  

“Have too much fun at the market today? Are you all tuckered out? Eat too many sampl-.”

Ten rolled his eyes and pushed Doyoung aside, standing next to Kun and resting his head atop his shoulder, a visible pout forming on his face.

“Kun, why does God mock the young and beautiful? Why has he forsaken me, his most loyal child?”

Kun scoffed while patting Ten’s head with one hand and placing loaves into the bread box.

“I don’t know about that one, Ten. You were literally 'The Devil’s Shadow' for Halloween last year.”

Doyoung mumbled an agreement while vigorously scrubbing a piece of celery with a vegetable brush.

“Not that you aren’t one literally every other day of the year but you somehow managed to _only_ get in an argument with  Jesus Christ at the council party!”

Ten shrugged, humming at Kun to continue patting his head.

“It just seemed fitting. I play a character and I commit. It’s what God would want. An accurate representation of his word. But now, he’s ridiculing me.”

Kun slowly moved around the kitchen, Ten cemented to his shoulder, as he edged to the pantry to make sure everything was stocked correctly.

“God is not mocking you. On the contrary, I think he’s giving you new paths to cross.”

Doyoung interjected again, wiping his hands on the front of his tracksuit bottoms.

“When did you suddenly get religious? You cursed me out in three different languages for using your shampoo this morning!”

Ten sneered, hugging Kun’s side for support.

“That’s because that’s the second time this week _AND_ it’s my specialty shampoo that’s imported from Indonesia! I will snap your glasses in front of you and make you _watch_ if you do that shit again!”

Kun placed his face in his left hand, patting Ten’s shoulder with his right.

“Guys, please. We’re all exhausted. It’s luxurious soap. I get it. Ten, to the sofa. Doyoung, lounge chair. Let’s decompress.”

Ten and Doyoung side-eyed each other, slowly walking to their assigned seating areas as Kun switched the kitchen light off, bringing a bag of pretzels along with him as he slipped in next to Ten.  

Doyoung huffed, crossing his arms. Ten, like clockwork, mirrored him almost exactly. Kun silently laughed, rolling his eyes.

“Alright guys, so today was pretty..”

“Exhausting. I could be _dead_ and still be tired!”

“Bearable... somehow.”

Kun relaxed slightly, feeling familiar with their tone of voice as both men spoke up.

“Today was pretty interesting, to say the least.”

 

* * *

 

**3:45 p.m. Friday**

 

President Lee Taeyong smiled as a slew of  brand new faces herded towards the back of the Farmer’s Market pavilion, leaving dozens of backpacks under his care, as Kun and Doyoung passed around nametags. Ten would say he was scared but then he would be admitting defeat on the market grounds and he had far too much pride to let that happen.

In a flash, the shifts between the early noon to evening volunteers had taken place and suddenly new booths were being put together. Everything from vegan candy to hand-knitted cell phone carriers lining the booth table tops. Ten shuddered slightly behind his more level headed roommate. There was an opportunity to leave and completely abandon the market but..

Mr. Kumquat was making another sale, grinning from ear to ear while he spoke, waving at a few of the new vendors as they shuffled in, exuding a generally refreshing and calm aura. Ten did promise to stick around for a little while when they were talking, learning so much more than he would’ve imagined about such a tiny fruit. Hendery was really well suited for a businessman, much more than Ten ever could be. As his mind trudged into the darker tunnels of his thoughts where homework and family obligations resided, Ten was suddenly brought back to life by none other than “beet juice” himself.

Jung Jaehyun was a sophomore Kinesiology major, dimple extraordinaire, and entirely too personal but sweet salesman who always shared snacks with Ten before bio labs and somehow got Doyoung to stop talking before Ten asked him to. Other than a forced spoon feeding and slightly ruined performance shirt, the cheesing, honey blonde man had scarred Ten just as much as his Bigfoot impersonating boyfriend had.

Jaehyun clapped a heavy hand on the dancer’s broad shoulder, smiling widely.

“Ten Outta Ten! How have you been?”

Ten smiled, letting a small laugh escape him.

“I’m somehow still in one piece.” He side-eyed a booth of handmade clay pots and tiny succulent plants. “The freshmen haven’t harvested my bones or made me join a cabbage cult yet so.. we’re doing okay!”

“Fantastic!” Jaehyun chuckled lightly, brushing his hair to the side. “I thought I wouldn’t see you at one of these things until ' _Doyoung forced your lifeless corpse to grab him some green beans from beyond the grave'_.”

Ten sighed heavily, looking over at Hendery, who was helping his shorter booth colleague hang another sale sign from their station.

“Trust me. I surprised myself too. I thought my heart was all stone but I can’t say no to Kun’s thumbprint cookies.”

The brunette passed by then, rolling his eyes.

“I’m not even selling the thumbprints until next Monday. Just say you stayed for th--.”

Ten immediately clamped a hand over Kun’s mouth, letting a disgruntled groan be smothered by his hand.

“Yeah yeah, I stayed to help Doyoung with the freshmen. I’m a saint. We _know_.”

Kun let out a disbelieving hum and steered his way to the front of the pavilion to set up the potato sack race that all of the volunteers and passerby students could participate in. Jaehyun cleared his throat quietly beside the Thai man and smiled, looking over toward the main council table where his boyfriend stood, talking excitedly to the freshmen about the importance of the farmer’s market.

“Well I’m glad you’ve had a change of heart! We love to see you outside of random meetings and parties!” The dimpled man said, full of sincerity. “You’re a lot of fun! You would be a great addition to the council!”

Ten smirked just a tad at the notion.

“Yeah, you definitely do _not_ want me involved in organized politics.”

Doyoung, like clockwork, passed by while nodding his head vigorously.

“If he even thought about a political agenda, our whole school might collapse.”

The shorter man stuck out his tongue, blowing a quiet raspberry while pushing Doyoung away. He then waved goodbye to Jaehyun as he stepped over to greet his boyfriend of two years. Doyoung’s eyes followed hungrily behind him, and landed on the both of them, mouth slightly agape. Ten shook his head, stifling a laugh.

“You could, at least, _try_ to be subtle, dear.” Ten tucked a piece of hair behind his ear as his face bloomed into a full blown smile. He loved knowing something before Doyoung. It was like a really chill kink.

Doyoung huffed, thumping Ten’s forehead as he slowly walked past again.

“I don’t know to what you are referring but like everything else, I will be ignoring it as if it didn’t happen.”

Ten mocked his facial expression, sticking his nose in the air as his taller roommate walked away. In the corner of his eye, he saw Hendery smiling at him, warmth radiating from where he stood, and Ten felt his heart catch at the base of his throat. What in the hell was happening to him? Was he having an allergic reaction?

As Ten fumbled with his own internalized thoughts, he heard a loud, extremely distinguishable voice break through the calm, homey atmosphere of the market.

“ _Would you like something to brighten up your day and make you feel important? "_

_"Do you want to prove to your parents that you can, in fact, keep something alive and take care of yourself at the same time?”_

_“What better to get you motivated in the morning than your own succulent? Easy to care for, hard to forget about! We have a 2 for 1 special going on right now! Buy them while they’re still babies!”_

Ten groaned softly, looking at the newer booth that had replaced some incredibly sad quiches. What was their angle? And _why_ was he interested?

He sauntered over, eyeing a tan, silver haired freshman and his stoic but pixie-sized friend.

The bright boy spoke, eyes lighting up at the prospect of a new sale.

“Hello! Would you like to feel somewhat responsible and forget about your own existential dread?”

 The raven haired boy next to him let out a long exhale, rolling his eyes as if it was biologically ingrained in him to do so.

“We get it, Hyuck, your mom wants you to take care of yourself without calling her every forty seconds. Stop projecting that onto all of our clients.”

Ten suppressed a laugh, letting a small smile settle on his face instead. The silver haired boy who went by Hyuck scoffed, crossing his arms briefly before perking up with another idea in mind.

“Ya know, Renjun has a point. I do project. But it’s mostly for my tiny plant friends here. Their future lives are in our hands. And no one wants to see them die. Especially when it could have been avoided. Don’t you think so, uh--”

Hyuck hesitated, realizing he hadn’t asked for the elder’s name. Ten decided to humor him. The boy strangely reminded him of himself.

“Ten.”

“Ah yes, Ten. A statement name.”

The smaller boy, Renjun, scoffed again, turning his back to the both of them as he organized the tiny canvases filled with various colors of paint and emotion on his side of their shared booth.

Ten deduced that the taller, tan boy was in charge of plants and their upkeep while his unreadable partner in crime specialized in meaningful but abstract art. The thai man thought it strange but somehow reasoned that it only made sense. He was truthfully happy just to get his mind off the boy with the drape like bangs across the pavillion, selling kumquats left and right like hotcakes.

What the hell were hotcakes anyway? Warm birthday cake? Pancakes? Ten couldn’t be sure.

The junior decided to focus his attention back on the freshmen in front of him, letting his mind wander for too long could result in a disaster for another time.

Renjun, the shorter of the two, decided to pipe up then, seizing his moment.

“Now that I have your attention, Ten, I won’t be guilting you into buying art. I’d just like to know if there was any particular piece you would be interested in?”

Ten let his eyes focus on the canvases below him, seeing if anything might catch his eye. After a couple moments, one of the little key-chains caddied slightly in front of the drawings peaked his interest. “How about this one? Does it have any significance behind it?”

The freshman in front of him finally allowed a smile to break on his face for a split second, grabbing the key-chain and handing it over to the junior.

“Not.. entirely. That one is actually just a representation of me being frustrated with myself.”

Hyuck chimed in then, hands fiddling with the leaves of a couple tiny plants.

“Ah, I understand that one the most.”

Renjun let annoyance paint his face again, side-eyeing his booth partner.

 “Yeah, you definitely don’t. You barely understood our physics course today. I’d say you were only 63 percent present.”

Ten watched in amusement as Hyuck scoffed, balling up his fist and shaking it as if he was suddenly possessed by the spirit of an old man with a freshly mowed lawn.

“Laws of motion! Laws of gravity! I don’t care. Things move and if I could control it better, I would be less pissed off about moving out of the dorms in a couple weeks!”

“One, we _BOTH_ have to leave our dorm in a couple weeks. Two, there is no controlling either of those laws. Three, if you need help, Nana and Jeno are both going to be by our room at like, eight a.m. They’re bringing Jeno’s dad and his truck.”

Their spectator, Ten, let out a small gasp and both freshmen turned their heads in question.

“Yes?” Renjun inquired.

Ten’s hand waved a bit, as if he was trying to collect his words.

“You two _live_ together?!”

Renjun huffed out a laugh while Hyuck grabbed onto his shoulder, smiling widely.

“Absolutely. Worst idea we’ve ever had. But it gets weirder. We’ve actually been friends for about… like, 9  years.”

The ebony haired boy next to him cleared his throat in disapproval.

“Eleven, if you count those two years of theater camp.”

Hyuck flitted his hands around, brushing Renjun’s added information away.

“Yeah yeah, whatever. Eleven years. We decided to bunk together this year but we definitely will be getting like, a big apartment style dorm so we can still see each other. Just not.. so much.”

Renjun clasped his hand on his chest, right above his heart, in mock hurt.

“What?! Are you telling me, in front of this nice client, that you’re sick of me?”

At that moment, two more -probably- freshmen popped up beside the tan boy. One was about the size of a Sequoia tree while the other was around Hyuck’s height with wide eyes and squirrel-like features.

“Sick of you?” the tree boy questioned. “There’s no way. I feel about 1000x times better whenever you look in my direction.”

 Hyuck and squirrel boy both barely hid a gag while Renjun’s shoulders started lifting into his neck as he cringed away, definitely hiding a furious blush on his face.

“Yeah, okay, whatever, go away, Yukhei.”

“If I go away, can I take you with me?”

“Stop talking.”

“I never said we had to talk. We could always stare into each other’s eyes and get lost.”

“I want to die.”

“In my arms? I’ll try to resuscitate you the best way I know how.”

Ten’s face contorted into some genuine form of disgust. This Yukhei guy was definitely not going to back down and no amount of Renjun’s clipped responses were going to discourage him.

The dancer was beyond happy to see the silver-haired boy chime in, ending their seemingly unrequited affections.

“Alright, pea-brain, big brain. That’s enough. Yukhei, leave my roommate alone. You know he has two feelings. Disdain and passion. Right now, you’re definitely riding on both but one more comment out of you and you’ll be full-blown undesirable.”

His roommate looked more than relieved as he let out a breath that he looked like he had been holding onto since Mr. Muscles had walked over.

 _“Huh,”_ Ten thought to himself. “ _..maybe their friendship does work.”_

Yukhei’s large lips formed into a frown as he looked longingly at the tiny vendor before him. 

He let out an almost inaudible sigh as he waved at the two of them and headed over to the seat situated behind his and squirrel boy’s booth, noticing a prospective new customer. He put on a big smile almost instantly as he held up some type of protein powder in his large hands.

Hyuck, ever the mouthpiece as Ten came to notice, provided some more vital information. “Now that we’ve gotten so well acquainted, Ten, let’s do a review. You know Renjun, my bestie, Yukhei, the _'if_ _-renjun-ever-gets-his-head-out-of-his-ass'_ boyfriend of my bestie, and finally, the moment you’ve been waiting for, my candied apple bottom boo, Markneth.”

The boy next to him groaned, letting his side be taken hostage by his partner, Hyuck, who hugged him close.

“Yeah, the name is Mark. Yukhei and I were helping with the potato sack thing so we were gone for a little bit. Sorry if things got out of.. hand.”

Hyuck looked at Mark, letting his jaw fall open slightly with a faint gasp escaping him.

“ _Out of hand_ ?! I was making a _sale_.”

Renjun chimed in, having just regained his voice.

“I was here, Mark. Don’t worry.”

A loud laugh barreled out of Ten, as he held onto his stomach and wiped a fake tear from his eye.

“Yeah, no worries, I’ve been having a lot of fun. I actually decided I want to buy one of those little succulent things and that cute, emotionally stunted key-chain. They fit my aesthetic.”

Hyuck and Renjun’s heads both turned around at that. The boy with the puppy-like features detached himself from his boyfriend as he climbed behind their shared booth, collecting a paper box with some handmade care instructions taped to the side and a small “ **_take care of our planet_ **” pin in his hands. On his shorter companion’s side, Renjun was filing through some small white paper bags that had tiny but well detailed designs on the front.

These kids definitely knew a thing or two about pandering to their customers.

“So, which will it be?” Hyuck inquired while batting his eyelashes innocently.

Renjun let a delicate smile grow on his face as he opened the bag and placed the key-chain inside. It looked like melted lava cooled over new, mountainous terrain with contrasting bright white, fluffy clouds over top them. How the young boy got that much detail onto a key-chain? Ten would never be so sure but he was definitely impressed. 

The boy broke Ten’s train of impression then.

“So did you want a second one? I have them buy one get one 50 percent off.” 

Ten groaned and shook his head. “Definitely not. These are great, kid, but I solemnly swore long ago to not get anything from this market after my freshman year. You guys are already breaking my former self apart.”

Hyuck glanced at Renjun who leaned over to him and whispered, tight lipped.

“And we thought _you_ were the theater performance major.”

The junior stuck his tongue out at the both of them and handed Renjun his money while Hyuck carefully deliberated over which “plant child” to give him.

“Hmm.. ah… no.. no.. this one could possibly- still no. Damn, why is this so difficult?!”

“Maybe because you’re making it that way? 

“Mark, so help me God, you will sleep on the couch tonight if you break my focus.”

And suddenly, silence.

Another three minutes trudged by before the curly, silver haired freshman finally decided.

“Perfect! It’s mysterious, longs for affection, has trouble opening up, but can be a great listener, loves to entertain, and definitely is one of my prettiest babies here.”

“Wow, sounds like you know your plants pretty well!”

“Well, I grew her during Pisces season!”

Ten gulped, feeling strangely exposed.  “But I’m a pisce-”

Hyuck tapped his forehead before placing the tiny pot into the box and taping it securely. “Oh, trust me, I know.”

Then, the boy held out his hand for the money and Ten begrudgingly purchased another market item. The two roommates waved Ten off to the next table, having given him both of their “business” cards with their Instagram(s) and basic information on it. He still needed to make his way to the dorm to grab his practice shoes but with his luck, it was only a matter of time until-

“Hey! We’ll keep it short, man! This is LuMark’s protein buffet! Get those vital protein marks and stand tall, my guy!”

“Bro, I think you’re coming on a little strong. And we can also promote your Chinese club, but I think you went in a little too heavy with the-”

“Trust me, Mark. I’m a professional.”

Ten rested his head into his hand as he exhaled. This was going to be a **long** afternoon.  

 

* * *

 

**4:30 p.m. Friday**

 

“And I just think you’d really benefit from these protein bars. You can access them throughout the day, they’re loaded with flavor, and if you miss dinner, you have all of your nutritional intake in four bites!”

Ten had to admit, the two worked well together. Yukhei was a lot,  ** _a lot,_** of loud sounds and some gibberish but he had a big dopey smile and he was full of passion. Mark, on the other hand, was a little more soft spoken and usually reigned his skyscraper classmate in. The lean man wasn’t sure if it was how much he had been thrown into the market’s charming clutches, the sizzling of barbecue just outside, or the smell of vanilla wafting gently in the air, but he knew: he was trapped.

“Yeah yeah, give me like, three. If you guys are here in two days, I may try more.”

The overgrown, human bitmoji lit up then, getting a small candy box that someone would usually put chocolate in to box up the protein bars while human simba rang Ten’s transaction up.

“That’ll be $2.57.” He beamed at Ten then. It was so friendly, it made the thai man feel nauseous.

From the side, Hyuck could be heard sounding surprised beyond all measure.

“Markie, you’re undercharging again!”

“You only call me ‘ _Markie_ ’ when you want to embarrass me. You already called me cinnamon apple or whatever so that isn’t going to work. Also, we gave this guy a discount for having to deal with your booth earlier!”

Yukhei looked slightly bashful as he waved at Renjun, thinking about their earlier encounter. Renjun, in response, made stacking his handmade coasters one on top of the other to look very important.

Ten took his second box and more information cards about the students and their majors, becoming genuinely surprised to see Yukhei’s social work and Mark’s urban studies both listed on their individual cards. He felt even more shocked to see Yukhei’s linguistics minor.

“Linguistics? Really? I never really pegged you as the type but that’s really impressive.” Ten stated.

Yukhei shrugged, smile still adorning his face.

“Well, yeah. I may focus on a more specific language later on but right now, I want to understand language as a whole. I wanna like, help little multilingual babies who need to find stable homes and stuff.”

And Ten would swear every heart within a fifty mile radius broke.

Mark quirked up an eyebrow, patting his tall friend on the shoulder and looking proud.

“You never told me that, dude. That’s.. seriously so dope.”

Yukhei blushed faintly, batting Mark’s hand away from him.

“It’s just something I feel like I need to do. No big deal.”

“No, Yukhei, that’s a _huge_ deal and that’s really.. incredible.”

All four heads whipped around to see Renjun standing there, looking... fond?

That was definitely a story for another time.

Before things could get more intense, Ten waved at the four freshmen and headed back to find his roommate, Doyoung. He had texted him in the middle of Hyuck’s plant spiel to help him with a few of the name tags of the last minute volunteers. Doyoung stood in front of his vitamin booth, having made all of his sales earlier within his shift waiting for Ten while keeping a steady conversation with Public Relations Officer Johnny and his lunkheaded but sweet boyfriend, Jaehyun.

“About damn time. Were you trying to hide in the well again?”

Ten scoffed, placing his new belongings on the table.

“That only happened once when Taeil was still trying to get me to join his karaoke club.”

“Well, it was a pretty fun cl—”

Ten stared daggers at the sophomore.

“Jaehyun, honey, not right now.”

Ten nodded at Johnny then. The Sasquatch was good for something.

Doyoung actually giggled in response, which Ten would definitely be noting for later. But the raven-haired man recalled his previous request of Ten and handed over two name tags. Ten’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the tags in his palm.

“One is for a kid named ‘Yangyang’ and some guy named ‘Dejun’?

“Yeah… what about them?”

Ten gave Doyoung an exasperated expression, looking fed up. “I. Don’t. Know. What. They. Look. Like.”

Doyoung quirked up an eyebrow and pointed down the aisle of booths to a table that was set up right across from his newly acquainted freshmen friends.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“Nope.”

“Why can’t you do it?!”

Doyoung sighed, fiddling with the zipper on his jacket as he tried to avoid eye contact with Johnny and Jaehyun.

“I can’t leave my booth. Kun is participating in the games outside and he’s handing out goody bags to the winners. Taeyong is talking with the faculty about doing shuttle runs earlier this year for the elderly in town so they won’t have to try walking here. Johnny and Jaehyun are about to leave. I am the only one who can be in charge and make sure everything runs _smoothly_.”

Ten took one look at the couple next to them and knew that Doyoung was bullshitting him but it was nice sometimes when they didn’t bicker so he let it slide. Some good dick(s) could make any cold-hearted man crack.

“Fine. But if I die, it’s on your head.”

“No it’s not. It’s on my BED. Because I know your melodramatic ass will collapse in my bed and make a big mess.”

Ten chuckled, blowing a kiss as he walked away. He heard Doyoung gag in disgust as he turned. He loved his roommate.

As he headed back over to the booths, the freshmen he had previously met all waved at him, Hendery made a point to direct his award-winning smile at him again, and for once, Ten wasn’t feeling too bad about the market.

But as he had learned, all good things had a way of getting really fucking weird way too fast.

 

* * *

 

**10:54 p.m. Friday**

 

Kun leaned up from the couch, howling in laughter, grasping onto three pretzel sticks for dear life. Doyoung was in a similar state, clutching onto the arms of his chair from laughing pain.

“He had _WHAT_?” Kun strained to say in between howls.

“Lederhosen!” Ten exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. I definitely did not see that.”

Ten tossed his hair back with his hand, sighing loudly. “The Yangyang kid was hiding it underneath a trenchcoat. But it really broke me when he started blaring traditional German music.”

“You’re joking.” Doyoung said.

“I’m absolutely fucking not. I am too emotionally exhausted to even tell a pun right now.”

“You never tell puns.” Doyoung mentioned.

“For good reason.” Ten added.

“Those are the best though.” Kun said with a small frown on his face.

“Anyway, that sounds wild. There’s no way it could’ve gotten weirder, right?” Doyoung questioned.

Ten paused, looking off into the distance.  “Well...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! If you're reading this, you've just made it to the end of Chapter 2!
> 
> I'm still getting adjusted to writing dialogue and there's quite a bit of it in this chapter so bear with me, lovelies!  
> Thanks so much for sticking around  
> Life got in the way of creativity but I am back now and already working on Chapter 3, which will be a continuation of Ten's day at the farmer's market!
> 
> If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, please leave them in my curious cat: curiouscat.me/96hearts  
> You can also direct message me personally @96hearts on twitter!
> 
> Get ready for chapter 3 bc.. I'm not even ready for chapter 3. 
> 
> Once again, thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed!


	3. No Blood, Just Pinkies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking a look at the young freshman’s booth, Ten was confused. The table was decorated simply with a German flag that hung from a post while still attaching to the booth, white streamers, and a sign that said, “Yangyang’s Schokolade” in a font that looked like hell’s mix between comic sans and courier new. It wasn’t extravagant but the booth definitely did not lack charm. Why was everyone avoiding it like the plague?
> 
>  
> 
> Within 15 minutes, Ten would see why.

**4:45 p.m. Friday**

Weeks prior,  the sun would start to set, making the days feel like they’d been cut short. Now, the light was beaming down relentlessly, rays catching in crystals that hung from homemade wind chimes, beautiful hand-crafted cutlery, and handmade jewelry. All of these gorgeous sights aside, the natural light was making it much easier to see the white collared shirt and suspenders from underneath Liu Yangyang’s beige trench-coat.

Ten noted that this area of the pavilion was deserted, save from two girls making ridiculously cute animal cake pops. Taking a look at the young freshman’s booth, Ten was confused. The table was decorated simply with a German flag that hung from a post while still attaching to the booth, white streamers, and a sign that said, “Yangyang’s Schokolade” in a font that looked like hell’s mix between comic sans and courier new. It wasn’t extravagant but the booth definitely did not lack charm. Why was everyone avoiding it like the plague?

Within 15 minutes, Ten would see why.

“Gutentag,” The young, wavy haired brunette exclaimed as he climbed on top of the chair that he was previously sat in. “how would you like to go home with my dear great great bubby’s heart and soul?”

As he spoke, he peeled away his trench coat to reveal traditional school boy lederhosen. Ten rubbed his eyes with one balled fist, disbelieving what he was seeing. These freshmen were an entire new breed.

“Don’t worry!” Yangyang said, jumping down from the seat and clapping a hand on Ten’s back. “It’s not her actual heart!”

He whispered lower under his breath, noticing the field day participants filing slowly back into the space. Kun followed  behind as he scanned each booth, landing his eyes in suspicion on Yangyang’s.

“And I don’t even think she _had_ a soul. From what my bubby and mama said about her, she was pretty chaotic. Nothing that our family has ever had to deal with before!”

Yangyang twisted away then, lifting a Beats pill speaker from the unoccupied seat next to him.

“I couldn’t imagine living with a handful like my great great bubby but I definitely would have loved to be in the same place as her chocolates. I feel like I would have felt even closer to home.”

Right on cue, music started to fill the small space of Yangyang’s booth and filter in-between the two. It sounded similar to children’s nursery rhymes and helped transition the lively freshman student into his next selling point.

“Now I don’t know your name but you do look like someone who would definitely love a good chocolate. It doesn’t stain your teeth or get stuck in your gums _AND_ it tastes fantastic. All family bias aside.”

Yangyang winked at Ten then and pulled out a large, blue cooler. He lifted the lid and a bit of cool fog escaped from the insulated container. Ten had stood there the entire time, genuinely speechless from Yangyang’s display of unmatched enthusiasm. At that moment, he could only think about what a conversation between him and the other eccentric freshmen vendor, Hyuck, might be like. The junior shuddered at the idea. Just imagining it drained him completely.

While he was distracted in his thoughts, Yangyang had taken the liberty of unboxing four different chocolates from a well-crafted, 8x8 square inch box and lining them up on a clear sampling plate. He put his small dessert tongs to the side and thrusted the plate over to the junior’s previously unprepared hands. Ten fumbled but managed to catch it despite his surprise.

“Whoops! Almost lost you there! Now, usually, I only give two samples but I like your vibe! You’ve been really cool!” Yangyang said as his eyes glimmered with delight.

Ten literally had not said a word but he wasn’t going to argue. “Ah, thank you. It’s just my general disposition I guess. Now, uh, what’s in these things?”

Yangyang looked, for the first time in the minutes that Ten had come over, somewhat nervous as he darted his eyes rapidly back and forth, scanning for something.

“Uhh, yeah, gimme one sec.”

Ten felt briefly confused, turning his head as if he should also be on the lookout.

“Do you need help with something? If you forgot what your grandma put in these, it’s totally co-.”

The squirrely boy before him made a motion with his finger to his lips, asking for silence. Ten rolled his eyes _politely_ as he stopped himself mid-sentence.

Sweeping his eyes once more around the pavilion, Yangyang lifted what looked like a factory ingredient box to the tip of his nose, reading intently.

“The one in the upper left is mint, the second is orange, the third is deep roasted coffee stuff, and the last is a truffle filling.”

“Huh,” Ten hummed as he reached for the truffle chocolate “I’ll skip the mint and orange but I’ve not had a good coffee chocolate before.”

Yangyang nodded halfheartedly, eyes skimming the ingredients list once more before stashing it away in his backpack.

“Yeah, it _should_ definitely be good. I spent a fortune on these.”

Ten quirked an eyebrow up as he chewed, listening to the younger boy vent.

“Spent a fortune on these damn things. And I need to have them all sampled or sold before the end of April or my mom is gonna kick my ass.”

Worry set in as Ten looked at the boy before him, adjusting the straps on his traditional outfit. Why would his mom charge him so much for family chocolates?

Only one way to find out.

“Why would your mom charge you so much for family chocol-”

Yangyang shook his head, lips curving into a tiny smirk.

“Yeah, they’re definitely not my initial supplier.”

Ten stood there, befuddled.

“Supplier?” 

_What the hell did Yangyang give him to eat?_

Whipping his head in the direction of the student council booths, Yangyang spotted Kun, rooted in his spot as he helped a young boy get his hand free from a pickle jar. He let out a sigh of relief then. He pushed the suspender straps off his shoulders and threw his trench coat back on.

“Admittedly, I scored these for a good deal. Mom helped me order them through her job. They’re German chocolates but they aren’t exactly _filled with bubby’s love_.”

Ten’s chewing slowed, feeling uneasy.

Yangyang waved a hand, snickering.

“Don’t worry. It’s the same amount of preservatives and fat that our bodies are used to. They’re just German and they’re way more rich, darker too. These are more dark chocolate than milk. You can at least say you cut down on the sugar.” 

Ten’s chewing picked up again at that.

Yangyang chuckled then, taking a seat at his booth and resting both his arms behind his head.

“Yeah, it’s just one of the president’s policies  to ‘make sure everything is made with _love’_ and all that so that secretary dude, _Kun_ , has been on my ass all day about it. I can’t get him _away_ so I’ve been playing up the _love and affection_ all afternoon. My shift ends at like, 5:00 but I’m not sure if my friend’s roommate is going to be here in time to cover for tonight. I don’t want to have to close up early. I still have 113 boxes of these damn things.”

Ten watched as the boy’s big, frog eyes quirked down and looked a bit helpless for a split second. Then he resigned himself, sighing at the cooler by his leg.

“But its chill. I’ll have them taken care of. One way or another.”

Yangyang’s eyes looked back up, mildly menacing. Ten decided it was then that he needed to move the hell away from this booth before he got his hands accidentally dirty.

“Yeah man, I hope you get that figured out. But hey! I’ll take some of these off your hands. Do you have a box or two of the coffee and truffle ones?”

The freshman’s lips broke into a smile, sincere, if not also a little greedy.

“How about a couple sample bags and you come back for more later on?”

 A grin found itself on Ten’s face. He falsely deliberated for a moment, a finger playing on the edge of his headband and the other hand on his hip.

“I mean, maybe.”

Yangyang smiled wider, shoveling some extra coffee chocolates into a decorative bag.

“Taking that maybe as a yes and I’ll be seeing you soon. I’ve been Liu Yangyang, and you?”

The dancer leaned into a deep bow, mocking the young “chocolatier”.

“Yeah, I’m Ten.”

“See you soon, Tenford.”

“Likewise, Yangold.”

From his side, Ten felt someone walk up next to him as he was trying to put chocolates away in his bag. He side stepped to give the new customer space but immediately froze up when he heard their voice.

“Yangold? I don’t know. That one’s kinda sticking for me, Yang.”

_Hendery._

“Make it unstick, dumbass. That’s only for my loyal, trustworthy customer, Tenford.”

Ten sputtered beside Yangyang’s booth, shoving and finally zipping the chocolate away into his bag. Hendery’s eyes landed on the shorter man and he grinned again, brushing his bangs away from his eyes.

“Well, if it’s just for Ten, then I get it.”

Yangyang made a point to clear his throat loudly, effectively ending that conversation.

“Anyway, where the HELL is Xiaojun?”

Hendery shrugged, grabbing an orange tinted chocolate for himself. 

“Probably stuffed away in a practice room or studying for his calculus final. He’s been super distracted recently. He keeps forgetting to put trash bags in our kitchen can so the sides are all sticky. Not fun, but I’m not too miffed. I mean, I forgot to bring the toilet paper home from the store again so...” 

Yangyang exclaimed, resting his face in his hands. 

“Dude, _again?!_ Is that why he keeps coming over to mine?”

Hendery nodded, stuffing the chocolate in his mouth. Ten would swear that chocolate was kissed by God. Oranges be damned until Hendery got to eat one.

“Yeah, that’s why. Plus, you’re _super_ cool and hilarious too.”

Hendery winked coyly at him as Yangyang threw a wrapper at his face.

“Whatever. Can you please leave the bi community alone? We are _exhausted_.”

The taller man chuckled, grabbing another piece from the sample plate.

“As a member of that community, I do have to agree. But you’re just so cute when you’re _sweeeepy.”_

Hendery drug out the the baby-talk as Yangyang jumped up, cackling as he brought Hendery into a chokehold.

“You’re so annoying.”

“Aw Yangie, you should stop talking about yourself like that. My _wittle brudder_ should feel more confident.”

Hendery laughed loudly as he dodged Yangyang’s hands, managing to crouch behind Ten despite his short stature.

Ten was the neutral point. He didn’t know how he ended up there but he wasn’t exactly complaining with Hendery’s hands clutching onto his shoulder and hiding his face gently against his back.

“Uhhh-”

Ten vocalized. He shouldn’t technically be enjoying this so his brain worked out an excuse for him to find discomfort.

“Look what you did, Hendery! Now Tenford’s uncomfortable!”

Ten shook his hands, politely declining the notion. It wasn’t entirely untrue; he just knew it better than to let it continue.

Hendery _giggled_ quietly, patting Ten’s shoulder and moving back to the front of the booth.

“Sorry, Ten. Yangyang and I have been friends since sophomore year of  high school. It’s hard to not just.. mess with him.”

Yangyang rolled his eyes, beginning to pack away his things as his phone screen showed an alarm for ‘5:00 o’ clock’ going off. 

“Yeah, you’ll get yours too. You’ll Get Yours.”

Hendery’s mouth formed into a frown while he held his hand out in confusion.

“How did I hear that in all caps?”

Yangyang shrugged, unpinning and folding his flag to place in his bag.

“The powerful speak with power.”

Ten smirked then, slinging his bag back onto his shoulder.

“You’re damn right. You talked me into too many of these things. I’m preparing for an end of year showcase and now I’m gonna have to cut off my legs to fit into my pants.” 

Hendery chuckled softly beside him before stepping over to help Yangyang pack the rest of his things. In no time at all, and thanks to Yangyang’s simplistic setup, the two were done. The boy with the draped bangs slowly gravitated back next to Ten and Yangyang, the youngest shuffled lightly back and forth on his feet, looking for an out.

“Yeah, I gotta go soon. I need to be in Professor Shim’s office before 5:30 so I can get my extra credit points for today.”

Hendery tutted as he looked solemnly to the ground.

“At least you get fun extra credit. He made us pull trash up from all the campus fountains last semester. It was so shitty. Do you know how many slugs just, roam free? It’s gross.”

Yangyang flashed a wide grin, pushing Hendery on his shoulder gently.

“At least it wasn’t Mr. Jung’s habitat clean up for tree fr-” 

“Not. Another. Word.”

The brunette cackled loudly as Hendery thumped his forehead then and he started running away, waving frantically at the the two boys he had just left.

 

* * *

 

Ten felt his heart in his throat. He didn’t like feeling nervous or uncertain about any of his thoughts or actions. Mostly because that just didn’t happen to him. Ten was an extremely self-assured person. The only person that had ever combated that truth and won had been his father when he was deciding his major. Though, that wasn’t what was happening at present.

In the distance, Yangyang was sprinting off to the science building like a tiny fawn amongst large trees and the sun was only just starting to set behind him, sky turning from the clear blue to a mixture of burnt orange and lemon yellow.

But right next to Ten stood Hendery, his arms crossed one over the other on his chest. He was wearing a pale grey button up shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, with simple black slacks and black loafers. His wrist was decorated with a classic sterling silver wrist watch and his hand displayed one class ring and another plain silver band with some tiny inscription written where his knuckles could hide the meaning. Ten had noted those details a handful of times since he had stepped foot in the forsaken farmer’s market but he didn’t realize he had been committing them to memory.

As if he could hear Ten begin to contemplate his realizations, Hendery broke his train of thought.

“To clarify, Xiaojun is my roommate. He genuinely did forget about the market tonight but he was afraid Yang would get mad at him for running so far behind so he asked me to do any damage control. Told him it’d be fine, but he’s a worrier.”  

His face broke into a large grin, showcasing his pretty, startling white teeth again. Ten decided he’d never get tired of seeing it. He decided he’d actually like to see it everyday for the rest of his life. On cue, Hendery confirmed his future plans for him.

“So now I’m headed back to kumquat town, you wanna come back over? My booth partner, Yuqi, is trying to hook up this little machine to make shaved ice with kumquat syrup. It should be pretty good.”

Ten nodded dreamily, looking up at Hendery’s face and enjoying every second of it, no matter how hard he might deny it later.

“Great! It should be ready by about 5:45!”

“Sounds good!”

Realizing he hadn’t checked his phone more than once, he took it out of his pocket and saw five missed messages from his dance partner.

_‘hey ten, make sure to bring an extra yoga mat with you for soonyoung.’_

_‘ten, we have dance practice at 6:00 instead of 6:30, don’t forget.”_

_“ten, we still have to warm up, remember? don’t be late.”_

_“i would almost feel hurt that you aren’t responding but i know you’re going to bring me an apple pie from Mcdonalds when you get here.”_

_“you have twenty minutes. make it two apple pies and we forget this ever happened.”_

 

* * *

 

**5:45 p.m. Friday**

 

“Fuck, Hendery, I’m so sorry but I can’t stay for shaved ice. I have dance practice tonight for this project and I promised I’d be there kinda early to help setup.”

Hendery’s head fell dramatically, his chin touching his chest and arms drooping lazily to his sides. He responded in a pout, eyes getting somehow rounder and sad.

“This is awful. I was looking forward to building shaved icemen with you and then massacaring them with the syrup.”

Ten cooed under his breath, brushing a hand onto his shoulder. 

“I promise we will destroy an iceman village later but I have to be there in twenty minutes with two apple pies.”

Hendery’s eyes glinted in the light as he brought his head back up to a normal position, clearly delighted. He grinned like a child lost in the candy section of target.

“How soon are we talking? Same time tomorrow?”

Ten rested his hand under his chin, pretending to deliberate like he did earlier with Yangyang. This was becoming an unfortunate pattern of his. 

“Same time tomorrow.”

Hendery brought his hand up to meet Ten’s, holding out his pinky. Ten quirked up an eyebrow, already smiling at the gesture.

“We gotta make it official. I will bond you by blood and by pinky. But for now, just by pinky.”

Ten sighed, closing the distance between their hands with his pinky drawn out.

“I’d prefer we never bond with blood. That sounds gross.” 

Hendery nodded frantically, bumping his pinky to Ten’s.

“Only pinkies for promises.”

Hendery linked their pinkies together and looked at Ten with so much seriousness on his face that Ten feared the younger may freeze into a hardened statute before him.

“Tomorrow, 3:15 and only pinkies.”

Ten laughed when Hendery tightened his longer pinky around his own and shook it vigorously before slowly letting go. 

Ten started walking away then, knowing that he would get trapped into staying and he just really couldn’t let Sicheng down. His wrath was silent but deadly.

“You have yourself a deal. Go get those pies. And break a leg! But not like, literally! Then I won’t get to see you tomorrow!”

Hendery voiced loudly, sending Ten off with a happy wave and his smile that had imprinted itself in Ten’s mind.

 

* * *

 

**12:53  a.m. Saturday, March 23rd**

 

“So..”

The living room was far too comfortable. Damn their collective interior decorating skills. Doyoung was one more nod of his head into the floor. He had started falling asleep halfway through Ten’s retelling of the “Yangyang chronicles”. Kun’s body, on the other hand, looked so relaxed into their sofa that he could definitely be mistaken for a plushie. But, somehow, he was still attentive.

Leave it to the powers of the dad friend.

 “So what?”

Kun hummed, grounding his feet onto the floor before willing himself to scoop Doyoung up from his slumped position in their living room chair.

“Will we be seeing more of you at the festival? We could use a runner for the water booth. Just about anybody does it and you can come and leave whenever. Then, you have a better excuse to see your guy.”

Ten groaned, rubbing his tired eyes.

“He’s not _my_ guy. It has literally been a day.”

Doyoung suddenly shot up, eyes blinking open slowly.

“It’s been a day. You’re whipped. He doesn’t seem not _not_ interested. And, key point, you don’t have much to lose. Plus, that means you could use Kun’s charger for longer.”

Kun nodded in agreement while slinking an arm around his lean roommate.

“He’s not wrong, Ten.” 

Narrowing his eyes, Ten looked at the two of them while placing the pillow he was previously hugging back onto the couch and joining them both to head to bed.

“I know he’s not and I don’t like it. Also, what do you mean he’s not _not_ interested?”

Doyoung yawned, clicking the light and heading into their shared hallway.

“The kid has doe eyes and they get even more doie when he looks at you. It’s disgusting. He either thinks you’re nice or he’s interested. And we all know you aren’t nice.”

Kun sighed, leaning on his bedroom door.

“You’re nice enough but he’s right about the eyes. I say you give it a shot.”

Ten ran a hand through his hair, conceding to his tired roommates. 

“First of all, fuck you, Doyoung. Second, I’ll go tomorrow and see how it pans out.”

Doyoung did a halfhearted thumbs up, pushing the door to his bedroom open and immediately flopping into bed. March was almost over and the Doyoung that his roommates once knew would return once again. 

Kun smiled softly and patted Ten’s shoulder, heading into his own room, where the rustling of his bed sheets and a small lava lamp turning on could be heard. 

Ten made his way to his room then, turning on his bedside lamp and trading in his day clothes for pajamas. After turning his room light off, he settled into his bed, scrolling carelessly on instagram before he officially turned in for the evening.

 **_ping_ ** _!_

_you have one new notification_

Ten clicked the tab on the bottom of his screen and his face immediately broke into a smile.

 

_henderydickorydock started following you_

 

Ten followed him back then put his phone on the nightstand before cutting off his lamp.

Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you’ve reached the end of this, you’ve just finished chapter 3!
> 
> basically, all of the major and minor characters have been introduced!  
> uhhh, there are still a couple others i may or may not add but !! we will see!  
> i’m going to try and keep my updates bi-weekly!  
> i’m going on vacation on the 31st so hopefully i’ll make it back in time for chapter 4 to be posted!
> 
> once again, thank you all for reading and i hope you enjoyed this update!!  
> my twitter is @96hearts  
> my curious cat is curiouscat.me/96hearts


	4. Battle of the Shades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It would be a waste, Ten. You know how I feel about following plans.”
> 
> Ten huffed at Hendery’s pleading eyes. 
> 
> “Last week, you were twenty minutes late to your booth because you got caught up at the dog park by Lorenzo plaza.”
> 
> Hendery stomped his foot down, only mildly offended. 
> 
> “And you wouldn’t stop? There were two schnauzers! I couldn’t very well not stop.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * there was a significant time jump, but don’t worry. that’s the point.  
> * composting is another form of extra credit for the market  
> * taeyong is babie

**Tuesday, April 2nd**  

Notable for its beautiful walking paths and on-campus sights, any student would be lucky to laze across the freshly mown grass or sit beneath the gargantuan fountains that consumed the head of Bassanio College’s buildings. Ten, however, found that he preferred sightseeing one place alone during that fine April. His tomorrow with Hendery became every single day at the farmer’s market (except one Wednesday when he had to force Kun to stay in bed due to a cold). Now, the impending closing week of the farmer’s market plagued his mind constantly; or rather maintaining contact with Hendery. Although they had gotten acquainted, Ten still found difficulty in asking the long haired kumquat vendor for anything.

Tuesday decided to give him a push.

* * *

 

 **3:15 p.m. Tuesday**  

Lee Taeyong, culinary prodigy and president of the student council, found himself teary-eyed as he rounded up all the volunteers during a group transition between morning and noon shifts. It was his final year as a student and market head and he never anticipated this amount of participation growth. He decided easing out of market week with speeches, spread intermittently, to be most effective.

He took in a breath, trying to steady his voice as to not let his emotions get the better of him. 

“I’m really happy to see all of you here today. And I’ve enjoyed seeing you everyday. Some of you have been here since my sophomore year and some are brand new volunteers that I hope keep the market alive even after Johnny and I have graduated.”

Johnny Seo, the vice president, public relations officer, and bear hug expert, scooted in closer. Flashing a smile to the crowd, while wrapping an arm around Taeyong for support.

“Originally, it had just been Johnny, our graduate friend Taeil, and I. Yuta joined later but he decided to study abroad for this last semester. During my sophomore year, I was really nervous because there were hardly any participants until our secretary and treasurer decided to join.” 

Taeyong looked to Doyoung and Kun, huddled on the other side of the council table as they waved gently to the crowd. Ten had his head draped lazily on Kun’s shoulder, trying his best not to vomit. It was one of those sentimental moments that he could do without but Taeyong was a loving friend and great dance practice companion. If anyone deserved this moment, it was him. Ten looked at Johnny, the sasquatch supreme, almost beaming with light as he looked out at all the volunteers. He guessed the green giant deserved this too. 

Taeyong continued, one tiny tear descending down his cheek and nestling into his blue jersey knit shirt.

“My grandma actually inspired me to start this event. She taught me how to cook, bake, and sew. She lived alone for many years before my mom agreed to be her live-in assistant until she eventually passed. I would take food to her during my sophomore and junior years. And we’d talk about anything and everything.”

He took a deep breath again. Johnny gently pat his back, encouraging him to finish. 

“Health, home, and hospitality. Those were the main things we talked about. And that’s why we shuttle now. That’s why everything should be made with love. And that’s why I want this to continue long after I’m gone. I’ve taken up an internship to work here with some of the culinary and nutrition students, but I want to make sure you all remember what the initial goal of this market was and still is. And I hope you encourage your friends to participate for years to come.” 

Taeyong shifted, his eyes glancing down at his shoes and then back up to the crowd.

“So, yeah, that’s it. Also, remember to leave your ballots for next term’s office members in the green box at Kun’s booth. We’ll be announcing the new positions and meeting times on Friday in the council room after the final market day.” 

There was silence for a few moments. Everyone in the crowd looking starry eyed but no one felt brave enough to applaud Taeyong for his sweet testimony. Ten rolled his eyes and began clapping, which stirred on his roommates, and then the rest of the pavilion. Soon, everyone crowding around was cheering, “ _Taeyong_ , _Taeyong!_ ”. The senior laughed heartily and hid his face in his hands. Johnny pulled them away, laughing just as cheerfully, before hoisting Taeyong in the air and placing him atop his broad shoulders, rushing the both of them into the crowd, soaking up the audience’s affections.

Doyoung and Kun looked after the both of them, smiling wildly with adoration in their eyes. 

Ten _definitely_ felt nauseous now. He needed to find a chair and Hendery very quickly. 

Right on cue, Hendery waltzed over to Ten, adorning a pair of sunglasses and slinging a bag of fresh kumquats over his shoulder. He greeted Ten with one of his signature face-splitting smiles.

“Just the person I was looking for. Are you working the water booth for a little while? We’re going to try smoothies again today.” Hendery gently shook the jug in his hand. “Yesterday was a bust without the milk but Yuqi made sure that Zhennan didn’t leave it in his car this time.”

Ten smiled back and lifted his head up from Kun’s shoulder. Sliding over to join Hendery, he decided that leaving his roommates to pine in silence might do them some good for awhile. 

“Non-chunky milk? Definitely sounds more appetizing.”

Ten slid the sunglasses off of Hendery and bolted to the other side of the pavilion. The freshman let out a dramatic gasp as he made grabby-hands at Ten, following with determination. The battle for the shades had commenced.

 

* * *

 

**3:30 p.m. Tuesday**

Doyoung’s mesmerized stare towards his vice president broke as soon as he heard a bucket make contact with the concrete. Kun’s own trance directed at the president was stunted as well. The two sighed and grabbed their respective gloves and various cleaning tools from underneath the council booth before heading over to the spot on the ground that had compost waste leaked onto the floor. A very apologetic looking Hendery and Ten and two freshmen volunteers that just wanted to catch a break stood next to them.

“The locals aren’t even this bad!” Doyoung protested. 

Kun rolled his eyes as he pushed the sleeves of his jacket up and started picking up eggshells. “You don’t even work with them that often. _I do._ ”

“And you’re going to tell me I’m _wrong_?” Doyoung questioned, scrubbing a spot that reeked of old alfredo sauce.

Kun raised a finger to argue but then realized that his roommate was, inevitably, right. He continued patting the pasta spot dry as Doyoung helped the young freshman crouched to his left put any salvageable compost into a new bucket. 

“Thanks,” the black haired kid huffed out a heavy breath as he looked at the food with sad eyes, “we’ve been collecting that stuff since morning. We couldn’t get into Shylock hall until about twenty minutes ago because a bio professor had two floors blocked off for some game day project.”

The pink haired kid to Kun’s right readjusted his gloves and placed old bread into the bucket as he sighed. “Yeah, this isn’t the best thing that could’ve happened but we came by here before dropping all the compost off just in case we missed any and there seems to be a lot so it’s okay!” 

Doyoung sniffed his nose in a rabbity fashion at the thick smell of vinegar cutting through the air and sighed as he and Kun cleaned the remains. 

Ten stood, trying to find the words to apologize but Hendery beat Ten to the punch.

“We’re so sorry! We were just messing around a—“

Ten interjected, smiling faintly while holding up the culprit, a pair of cute circular sunglasses, in both hands. 

“Hendery was horsing around. _I_ was just trying to see how good I looked in these.”

Hendery rolled his eyes, digging one elbow into Ten’s side before continuing.

“We were joking around and ruined your compost. We’re sorry.”

Ten nodded beside him, toeing at the ground.

“Yeah, we’re sorry. Did you guys want some help taking it down to the composting site?”

Ten shivered at the thought of rotting bread clinging to his senses but he knew he’d be pissed off too if someone had ruined his almost completed project for the day, especially if it included smelly food.

The pink haired kid shared a mischievous smile with the raven haired one next to Doyoung as he answered. “No, it’s okay. Actually, it’d be cool if you took care of compost collections all week next week instead.”

The other boy snickered, eyes transforming into crescents. “Jaem, don’t say that. They look horrified. Plus, we need that extra credit.”

The cotton candy haired guy, Jaemin, faked an exasperated sigh as he stared at Ten and Hendery before him. “Fine Jeno, you win. You can help us to the composting site and join us for milkshakes instead.”

Hendery eyes widen, looking thrilled.

“Milkshakes?!”

Ten’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“What for?”

The boy getting up from the ground, Jeno, smiled wider, lips turning into one happy line. 

“Composting literally stinks and we always go to Portia’s Diner after. So it’d be a waste to switch from the routine.”

Ten pursed his lips as Hendery clapped his hands together, bright smile unwavering. 

“It would be a waste, Ten. You know how I feel about following plans.”

Ten huffed at Hendery’s pleading eyes.

“Last week, you were twenty minutes late to your booth because you got caught up at the dog park by Lorenzo plaza.”

Hendery stomped his foot down, only mildly offended. 

“And you wouldn’t stop? There were two schnauzers! I couldn’t very well _not_ stop.” 

Jaemin and Jeno nodded their heads as they helped Kun and Doyoung to their feet.

“He has a point,” Jeno agreed. 

“That he does,” Jaemin added while collecting the dirty gloves and discarding them in a nearby bin. 

Doyoung and Kun shared a glance, then both shrugged at Ten, also conceding. 

“Hendery isn’t wrong. Pups are priority.”

Ten let out a groan as he let his head roll from side to side.

“Why is everyone suddenly a dog person? Also, I get the whole team Hendery thing but at least _ONE_ of you could cut me some slack. I just want this dummy to be on time for shit.”

Hendery chuckled, fist bumping Jeno and Jaemin as they stepped on either side of him.

“Punctuality is for old people.” Hendery declared. 

“And Renjun!” Jaemin exclaimed.

Doyoung smiled wide, visibly pleased.

“And Renjun. I couldn’t pass that trait onto Jeno but at least my other son got it.”

Jeno laughed as Doyoung ruffled his hair.

“Renjun is so time conscious, he was thirty minutes early for his surprise birthday party last week!” Jeno continued, his audience listening intently. “Donghyuck had prepared, thank god, but if Yukhei hadn’t distracted him while we moved the balloons inside, we would’ve all faced Hyuckie’s wrath.”

“And no one can handle that except for Mark,” Jaemin stated, matter-of-fact.

All the boys nodded then, a group understanding falling over them about the freshmen pair. 

Just then, Ten’s phone rang and he sighed heavily, stepping away from the circle. 

“Alright Jeno and Jaemin, we’ll join you guys for shakes. Just gimme like, two seconds to answer this call.” 

The pair nodded and started chatting Hendery up about some anime. In a hurried rush of whispers, Ten could distinctly make out ‘Dragon Ball Z’ and ‘My Hero Academia’.

 _“Damn nerds,”_ Ten snickered as he picked up his phone.

 

* * *

**4:00 p.m. Tuesday**

_Incoming call from: business dad_

Ten’s eyebrows furrowed as he hit the “accept” button. What in the hell could _he_ want? School was almost over and he didn’t intend on seeing him at all that summer. Ten and his dad were never really the types to check in on each other every few days, or even months if they could help it. The distant father was like a permanent emergency contact who just so happened to be married to his mom. He only called occasionally to let his parents know if he’d be flying back home and to report that he wasn’t dropping out of school now that he was more or less trapped. This phone call was already unnecessary in Ten’s mind.

_“Son. Are you available to talk?”_

Ten sighed, mouth not near the receiver as to avoid his father hearing his exasperation.

“Yeah, Dad. I’m free. Is there something wrong?”

 _A_ beat. 

His father responded.

_“I received an email from Bassanio yesterday afternoon about billing for summer housing. What do you need summer housing for? You’re interning under my company’s best, Jihoon, this summer.”_

Ten cursed silently, eyes filled with distress.

“Yeah, Dad.. about that.  I decided to do the internship with my dance instructor this summer. Mr. Lee only had 3 spots available and I managed to g—“

His father cut him off, harshness lining his tone.

_“And YOU managed to piss me off. I’ve had this internship arranged for you since Christmas. I’ve turned away dozens of people. I’ve already booked your flight and made arrangements for you in the summer house.”_

Ten bit at his bottom lip and shuffled slightly on his feet, trying to not let his nervous energy boil over into anger. He was already slipping.

“Dad, I know that but I did talk to mom like, a month ago and she said that you would be able to easily get someone el—“ 

His father was shouting now, all means of common courtesy forgotten. 

 _“SOMEONE ELSE IS NOT NEXT IN LINE TO RUN MY COMPANY. They are merely placeholders for my FAMILY company. You should have consulted with ME first. You always find a way, even indirectly, to disappoint me, boy.”_  

Ten was physically shaking now, debating whether to stay or run. 

“Well, that wasn’t my intention. You’ve just made it sound that way. I did make sure before I let go of the company internship that you would be able to get someone else. I’m not inconsiderate. You just don’t pay attention.”

Silence _._

Then some shuffling on his father’s end of the phone. He finally chose to speak but Ten figured out all too quickly that he would rather he kept his big mouth shut.

_“You think entirely too little of me. I do pay attention. I’ve seen every performance video of you since you’ve been attending that school. I’ve had staff chauffeur you to different recitals and I’ve been in charge of paying attention to all your expenses to fuel your silly dream. I pay attention to you wasting my time and I’ve had enough of it.”_

Ten stood, mouth agape, tears trying to spill over the corners of his eyes. His father’s words pouring over him like a cascading waterfall. 

“What do you mean?” Ten asked, voice hard, tone clipped but still threatening to shake.

 _“You’re cut off. After this semester’s end, you figure out living arrangements for your senior year and thereafter. You are no longer welcome in my sight.”_  

Lips trembling, eyes shut tight, Ten took in a shaky breath and tried to center himself, tried to think of the area he was in, the sound and smells that surrounded him but all he could see was darkness and himself, panicking.

Never one to let someone have the last word, Ten drew in one final steadying breath and focused all his energy on the last thing he’d say to his father for quite some time.

“I will always be one step ahead of you, Dad. I’ve been figuring out how to get away from you ever since the day I could walk.” 

Click. 

And he hung up the phone.

 

* * *

**4:15 p.m. Tuesday**

Ten’s hands were shaking, his mouth was bitten from stress, and he was having a hard time controlling his breathing pattern but he had done it. He had put his foot down.

He had put his foot down so hard that he might not have anywhere to live during school breaks, but still, the foot was down.

Seconds turned to minutes and Ten was still stood, facing away from the pavilion and his friends. His ears were ringing and he felt dizzy. He knew he should maneuver somewhere to sit down but his body wasn’t listening to him. 

But maybe Ten didn’t need his body to think for him. Maybe someone else would instead. Stepping slowly towards his lithe frame was Doyoung, doing his absolute worst at being subtle. 

“Heyyyy, my lovely roommate who helps pay rent. How’re things?”

Ten rolled his eyes, letting one tear finally escape.

“Dandy. Absolutely amazing, roommate who is a pain in my ass.” 

Doyoung scoffed, flicking Ten on his shoulder before slowly stretching his arms out, inviting Ten in.

“I know you just insulted me and I know we don’t do this but uh, you really look like you need it. Not saying I’m assuming what you need. Just saying that from your general persona, it just kinda seems li—“

“Shut. Up.”

Ten quickly shuffled into Doyoung’s arms, closing the space and wrapping his arms around Doyoung’s waist, letting the tears flow freely. Doyoung stiffened only slightly at the immediate embrace but relaxed into it and allowed himself to walk back slowly from the main pavilion, giving Ten a little bit more privacy.

A couple moments passed, Ten couldn’t be bothered to keep count of how many, before Kun had joined them on a bench by the memorial wall. Once again, the council’s secretary was taking part in the children’s activity booth and had to wash his hands and change shirts from face painting before he could come coddle Ten. After that, the three were snug as a bug. Ten was content, just like that, Kun patting his face dry with kleenex while Doyoung told him about more unfunny things that Johnny and Jaehyun had to say earlier that day. 

However, this particular Tuesday was still not going to give Ten a break.

 

* * *

**4:30 p.m. Tuesday**

“Hey...” Hendery mumbled, trailing off, as he walked up to the three juniors.

Doyoung flamboyantly waved the freshman away as Kun rubbed circles on Ten’s back, his cheek squished against Kun’s arm.

Hendery slowly started backing away, fearing that Doyoung might accidentally swat in his direction. 

“No,” Ten voiced, eyes closed. “You can stay. What’d you need, Henderson?”

Hendery quirked up a tiny grin and stepped forward, taking a seat at the very end of the bench next to Kun. 

“Uhh, I just wanted to see if I needed to reschedule with Jeno and Jaemin. They were about to head out.” 

Ten groaned, tucking his head into Kun’s side.

“I completely forgot. Yeah, let me just tell Sicheng that we’ll have to rehearse later tonight then we can leave.”

Hendery looked at Ten, eyes hesitant to rake over the features of his face. He looked worn out and stressed beyond belief. Like he’d just finished all of his finals all at once or something equally as terrifying.

“No, Ten. it’s okay. I think we should try to catch them at another time. Just because uh.. I’m really tired. Like, bone tired. Whew. It’s been a DAY!” 

The long haired boy stretched up both of his arms and let out a deep exhale, exaggerating his sudden exhaustion. Ten glanced over at him from Kun’s arm, then looked up at Kun who was smiling and holding a “thumbs up” in approval at the gesture. Doyoung turned his head away, pretending to gag but still had the slightest bit of a grin on his face as well. 

Slowly, Ten sat up from his little safe haven of roommates to properly look at Hendery. 

“Sleepy, are you? Would you be too tired to come help me and Kun bake cookies tonight? Doyoung is going to hang out with his not-crushes to help with setting up the student election party. So an extra pair of hands would be nice. But if you’re really _so tired_ …”

Hendery waved his hands, flapping in the air like bird’s wings trying to take flight, as he rejected his previous sleepy notion.

“No no, I’m fine. I might be tired but I’d love to help you guys out. I could bring my roommate and Yangyang too, if you wanted?”

At that, Kun physically shuddered, covering his mouth with his hand before speaking.

“Yangyang? Well, I _guess_ every hand is a helping hand.” 

Hendery chuckled, flicking some hair from his eyes.

“Yes, I know. Yangyang ascended from hell specifically to terrorize all of us. But, Xiaojun will be there so he should be a little... more… behaved?” 

Kun shrugged and let a hand press to his temple.

“Let’s try it. The worst that happens is that I clean cookies off the ceiling.” 

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Doyoung added, reminiscent of many nights spent atop a ladder with a window scraper.

Kun sank back, letting the air leave him so he could become one with the bench.

Hendery placed a hand on Kun’s shoulder and looked at him sympathetically. 

“You’ve gone through so much, Kun.”

Kun let a tiny whine leave his lips as he closed his eyes and thought about the possible outcomes of that evening. He would later settle on being swept away by their student council president to have handmade macaroons and dessert wine on the balcony of Salerio Place right off campus.

Ignoring his daydreaming, Ten snuck away from Kun and stood up. Hendery quickly followed  and draped an arm across him.

“So, what’s the plan?”

Ten placed a hand on his bucket hat he’d decided to steal from Doyoung that day, bringing it down lower over his eyes.

“The plan is… mischief.”

Hendery scoffed, pulling at Ten’s ear playfully.

“Well that’s obvious. But what else?”

“I text Sicheng, we grab Xiaojun and Yangyang from your residence hall, we revive Kun, and we bake away all the problems.”

Hendery hummed contentedly, slowly walking out of the pavilion with Ten.

“Now that’s a good plan.”

Ten’s eyes glistened, feeling his heavy heart start to lighten just a tad.

“Well, yeah, because I made it.” 

“Good point.” 

Ten chuckled lightly. The panic in him still reigned within every realm of his mind but for the time being, he felt at peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you’ve reached the end of this, you’ve just finished chapter 4!
> 
> first, a huge huge thank you to @mqrkhyuck for helping me beta this chapter. my dialogue finally has a chance to not make me cringe into myself thanks to her.
> 
> this chapter may have given you a twisty twist and i’m realizing we may be in for a bit longer of a ride than i first intended but ! i’m hoping that that’s okay with everyone.
> 
> you can find me on twitter: @96hearts  
> and curiouscat: @96hearts
> 
> thank you so much for reading!


	5. No Harm, No Drool, No Foul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “If you died during stats, you could be a ghost with me and Ten. Then we’d just have to wait for Dejun to join us.”
> 
> Xiaojun rolled his eyes and suppressed a smile while Yangyang draped an arm over him, contemplating.
> 
> “I could easily join you guys because we’d all be waiting for judgment to cross over to the next life as demons. Xiaojun would immediately go to heaven because he doesn’t belong in the blazing fiery rivers of hell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * enter: xiao dejun  
> * someone save kun  
> * doyoung still uses red box  
> * not much else you need to note.  
> enjoy!

Peace made its acquaintanceship with Ten for about one hour.

 

And that hour he would surely miss.

**5:00  p.m. Tuesday**

 

After texting Sicheng and being persuaded into bringing sweets to their next dance practice to make up for his absence that night, Ten and Hendery made their way to the freshman dorms to pick up the other two stand-in bakers for the evening.

* * *

 

Stepping into Hendery’s tiny dorm room gave Ten a sense of nostalgia and horror. It was clean but felt all too familiar and cringey. It was a two person dorm that held a connecting bathroom to another two person dorm. Ten had had far too many accidental walk-ins on his old roommate, Changkyun, to feel comfortable.

 

As Hendery opened the door, Ten eyes immediately landed on a human lump on top of the shared bunk beds. Though Ten couldn’t see his face clearly, he would never be able to miss Xiaojun’s thick, block brows knitted together. Upon first meeting and now, that would always be Ten’s main identifier for him, aside from his short stature and very angular features.

 

Stepping quietly inside, Ten shut the door behind him and leaned against it, waiting for Hendery to work his magic on waking up the sleeping beauty before them.

 

Tiptoeing to the bunk bed and slowly climbing up the ladder, Hendery was stealthy in slipping right next to Dejun without waking him up. Ten was impressed.

 

After 15 seconds had passed, Hendery placed a hand on Xiaojun’s shoulder and gently shook him awake, rubbing circles in his back with his other hand.

 

The sleeping boy’s eyes blinked open slowly. He reached his arms up high, stretching out of his drowsy state. Xiaojun slowly rolled into a sitting position, hair mused from sleep, blankets draping off of his frame. His eyes scanned the room bit by bit, taking in the sunlight trickling in-between the ancient blinds hung from the window. As his head made its way back to their front door, his vision finally caught onto Ten standing, somewhat awkwardly, in place. Xiaojun gasped and covered his face with his hands while Hendery laughed quietly beside him, a hand clasped around his wrist to shake him out of his embarrassment.

 

“ _Jesus,”_ Xiaojun voiced groggily, “you scared me.”

 

Ten looked at him pitifully, walking over to the edge of his bunk bed and draping a hand over the one fallen to the side.

 

“Sorry, you know it’s my personal mission to feast on all of your dreams.”

 

Xiaojun ran over his bedhead with his free hand that Ten finally released and rolled his eyes.

 

“Yeah, I know. You only come here to wake me up from naps and steal my peace.”

 

Hendery chuckled while climbing out of the bunk bed, accepting Ten’s gracious hand as he wobbled to the last step on the ladder.

 

“You caught me, Dejun. That’s the only reason I bring him here. It’s no fun bothering you alone. I have to share the glory.”

 

Xiaojun mimicked him, poking a hand out to copy Hendery’s mocking words and scrunching up his eyebrows. Ten enjoyed this version of Hendery’s roommate most; slightly drowsy and unabashed in his own behaviors. Once he was fully awake and receptive, he had a tendency to be a little stiff, but Ten was hoping he would finally start feeling more comfortable around him (considering Ten was always around anyway).

 

After climbing down from his bunk and taming his voluminous, deep brown hair, Hendery and Ten let Xiaojun know their evening plans and asked him to join along. He quickly agreed and made his bed before heading right next door with them to grab Yangyang, or as Hendery called him, their “next-dorm-neighbor”.

 

Refraining from knocking on the door, Hendery made quick work of strolling inside Yangyang’s dorm room, followed by Ten, and hesitantly followed by Xiaojun. Many hushed conversations of _is this even allowed?_ and _if it wasn’t, why does he always keep his door unlocked?_ and Xiaojun’s personal favorite:  Y _ou make a good point. He would miss all of his 9 ams without us._

 

Ten had actually never been inside and didn’t know what to expect but he was thoroughly surprised to see a somewhat clean, single person dorm. A bed on the left side of the wall, a flat screen tv with wires that connected two different gaming systems, organized coats on a rack, and several pounds of chocolate stacked on one side of his desk with books and class assignments on the other. Nearest Yangyang’s window sat a small book that had _recipes_ written lazily on the front.

 

On his bed laid Yangyang, spread out like a starfish on his belly. His bangs covered his eyes and he had drool pooling on the side of his face. He was lightly snoring and holding on tightly to some slightly worn homemade plushie in his arms.

 

The image would have been cute had Ten not known the type of demon Yangyang was when he was awake.

 

This time, Hendery sat in a bean bag chair caddied slightly away from Yangyang’s desk and Ten sat in the actual desk chair, praying silently that the wooden chair would not make noise against the tile. With sweaty palms and Hendery helping maneuver him into the seat, Ten succeeded.

 

Xiaojun stood in the middle of the room, slowly inching over and eventually sitting on the edge of Yangyang’s bed, making sure to not sit on his sprawled out foot that had escaped the confines of the blankets. Gently, Xiaojun brushed falling hair from Yangyang’s face. Ten thought the image was almost too intimate to be apart of.

 

Until it wasn’t.

 

Yangyang slowly started to stir from his slumber, turning fully on to one side. Once the boys noticed this, Xiaojun gave Hendery a thumbs up. Hendery returned it and cupped both hands around his mouth, loudly clearing throat, then proceeding to yell.

 

“HEY, ASSHAT! WAKE THE FUCK UP!”

 

Hendery’s laugh tumbled from his lips as he looked at Ten who was trying, but miserably failing, to stifle his own laughter. He held onto the rips in his jeans as he chuckled, folding himself over to possibly quiet down his amusement.

 

Yangyang had managed to scramble to the wall, seemingly flattening himself against it and shoving a pillow over his head in the process while exaggeratedly groaning. Through the muffling of a pillow, Yangyang voiced his upset.

 

“You all are fucking assholes except for Dejun. I hate everyone and I’ve decided that you’re all dead to me.”

 

Ten snickered at Hendery who was covering his mouth with his hand from enjoyment. Xiaojun looked both amused and a little pitiful. Either way, everyone was having a good time. Aside from the starfish on the wall.

 

After delicately prying the pillow away from his head, Xiaojun placed his small hand on Yangyang’s back, massaging circles there in hopes of quelling some of his temporary irritation. Because it was Xiaojun, it seemed that it worked a bit.

 

“Like I said,” Yangyang said as he rolled over onto his back, wiping away some of the dried drool on his face. “Dejun is the only one that I count as a living person in this room besides myself. You guys are fucking terrible.”

 

Ten scoffed, holding his hands up in defense.

 

“I didn’t even DO anything. I was sitting here, minding my _business_!”

 

Yangyang shot up then, wobbling slightly from his immediate ascent. Xiaojun pressed into his side to support him.

 

“ _YOU_ are an accessory to a crime. Be gone, ghosts 1 and 2. I’ve had enough of the deceased for one evening.”

 

Hendery rolled his eyes as he got up onto his feet to toss socks and a dog tag with Yangyang’s name over to him.

 

“Anyway, if you’re done being the way that you are, we’re baking with Kun and Ten tonight and you’re gonna join us.”

 

Yangyang arched an eyebrow, pretending to mull it over in his mind while sliding the tag over his neck and slipping on his socks.

 

“And _why_ would I meddle with the dead?”

 

Xiaojun chuckled softly beside him, adjusting the dog tag around his neck.

 

“Because,” Hendery stated, with absoluteness in his voice, “you think Xiaojun is a good person and you owe me for last week’s anatomy notes that I let you borrow.”

 

Yangyang grumbled as he finally stood, stomping into his bathroom to wash his face and fix the cowlick that always made a statement on his head during his sleep.

 

“Whatever. I’m doing this for free snacks and because I’d rather die than work on statistics right now.”

The wavy haired boy walked out, face free of drool and eyes a tad bit brighter.

 

Hendery grinned as the four of them made their way to Yangyang’s door, stopping so Yangyang could push a bucket hat onto his head.

 

“If you died during stats, you could be a ghost with me and Ten. Then we’d just have to wait for Dejun to join us.”

 

Xiaojun rolled his eyes and suppressed a smile while Yangyang draped an arm over him, contemplating.

 

“I could easily join you guys because we’d all be waiting for judgment to cross over to the next life as demons. Xiaojun would immediately go to heaven because he doesn’t belong in the blazing fiery rivers of hell.”

 

Ten scoffed. Hendery looked falsely offended. And Xiaojun? Well, he was trying really hard to hide a blush blooming on his cheekbones.

 

At that, the three demons and one angel left the freshman dorms and journeyed to Ten’s apartment.

 

**6:00 p.m. Tuesday**

 

* * *

“Hendery, _PLEASE_ stop using my spatulas as drum sticks. And Yangyang, the apple timer is not for you to juggle,” Kun spoke with exasperation lining his voice. He was just as tired as he thought he’d be. “Ten, you are _NOT_ being helpful. You have test-tasted enough brownies to know that no one will be poisoned. Leave them _alone.”_

 

Flour lined every countertop in the juniors’ apartment, there were eggs smeared on the ground, and Ten was pretty sure Kun was about to drown the rest of his frustrations in butterscotch chips. They’d only been baking for about 30 minutes but it felt like more than 4 days had passed in their kitchen. Xiaojun was in charge of damage control, cleaning dishes as they got passed into the sink, while Yangyang and Hendery tempered candies to place as a garnish on top of various desserts. Thumbprints, butter cookies, and brownies were all towering ahead of the 5 guys in the kitchen on cooling racks on the breakfast bar that were being packaged by Kun.

 

The last week of the farmer’s market meant extra baking for the market itself _and_ the student council party for the election voting results. Kun had all of his secretary duties done for the week. Having tallied and double tallied the votes, organizing the event details, and making sure to calm the nerves of the potential new council heads, Kun took the rest of the week to bake away his anxieties before final’s week came into view for Bassanio college.

 

This year, his baking week had a little less strawberry puree and a lot more unruly chaos.

 

“Hey, u-uh Kun? How much do you really love this pot?”

 

Kun massaged his temples, squeezing his eyes shut to avoid the reality of his current situation.

 

“Why do you ask, Hendery?”

 

Hendery shuffled from foot to foot, trying desperately to remove the hot, sticky quick drying candy from the tiny blue ceramic pot.

 

“Well… ya see…” Hendery trailed off as he got paper towels stuck in the candy gunk on the side.

Ten rolled his eyes as Kun hauled ass into the kitchen, stepped next to Xiaojun and started performing surgery on his beloved pot.

 

And so the night went just like that.

After baker’s dozens upon baker’s dozens of assorted desserts, chocolate sauce leaking onto counters, and powdered sugar coating the inside of everyone’s nails, the boys had a system formed that managed to work once the first hour had passed. Hendery, at about hour two and a half, had given up on tempering chocolate and migrated to help Kun package pastries into their designated boxes. Xiaojun’s small, nimble hands handled each dish with care as he thoroughly cleaned, treating each piece of dishware like a feather on a bird’s wing. Ten, well, he was doing his best to do everything and nothing all at once. He really didn’t need Kun to give him shit about caramel sauce on the walls again so he made his distance while also being helpful. It was a pretty solid deal for everyone involved. _And_ Yangyang somehow worked out not getting his head knocked off his shoulders by the elder secretary.

 

All in all, a fairly good evening.

 

Then Ten’s damn phone rang.

 

* * *

**8:30 p.m. Tuesday.**

 

Ten’s phone chimed twice. Once signaling an update text from Doyoung, telling his roommates that he would be home within the next hour and he would have hot wings in tow. A second time alerting Ten that his mom had texted him. He hadn’t received a text from his mother in the latter part of two weeks. Considering his recent play of events, he was both baffled and nervous.

 

Stepping into the living room, Ten wiped both his hands onto his “work” sweatpants before fishing his phone out of his pocket and seeing what his mother wanted.

 

_“Ten, sweetie, give me a call when you have time. We need to discuss your summer plans. Love Mom.”_

 

Ten sat down on the couch and sulked for a good 5 minutes. The clanking sounds of pots and pans muffling some of his negative thoughts. He knew it better than to bother Kun about it until all of the desserts were boxed and he’d rather die than have Hendery involved.

 

But who actually stepped in to save the day was pretty comforting, albeit unexpected.

 

“H-hey,” Ten heard a small, low voice.  

 

He looked up to see Xiaojun fiddling with the zipper of his hoodie and looking, as per usual, very small. Aside from being a whopping 5’6, he had a tendency to always shroud himself in oversized clothes. His aesthetic could be summed up as a tiny, fashionable mouse. Like Stuart Little or something.

 

“Hey Jun,” Ten started, exhaling deeply. He really didn’t want to drag the guy into the dramatics of his life if he could help it. “Your hands haven’t shriveled up from dish soap yet?”

 

Xiaojun wiggled his fingers in response and let a sheepish smile spread across his face. “Not yet. They all appear to be working.”

 

The freshman shuffled lightly from foot to foot, making several nonchalant glances at the empty spot next to Ten on the sofa. Ten rolled his eyes and patted the seat next to him. Xiaojun nodded and sat down, unreasonably straight and well-postured.

 

“So…” Xiaojun trailed off, both of his hands gesturing in no particular direction.

 

Ten sighed and let himself slump into the cushiony pillows that supported his back.

 

“It’s family shit, Xiaojun. You really don’t have to worry about it.”

 

Xiaojun shook his head firmly a few times with his bottom lip stuck between his teeth, deliberating over his next sentence carefully.

 

“I know I don’t have to but you’re my friend now. You basically live in my dorm room and I know talking to Kun isn’t an option at the moment, so you’re kinda stuck with me.”

 

Ten’s lips quirked up somewhat happily at the boy on his side who had crossed his arms over his chest in finality.

 

“So you’re saying that Yangyang couldn’t be my saving grace?”

 

At that moment, a loud, “ _FUCK!”_ left the kitchen as a pronounced clatter of pots could be heard descending to the ground. Ten and Xiaojun both looked up to see Hendery and Yangyang scrambling to the floor and Kun groveling where he stood.

 

“Does that answer your question?” Xiaojun questioned with one well-groomed eyebrow quirked up.

 

Ten laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. A habit that he’d unfortunately started picking up from Hendery whenever he had to make a decision about where to eat but was too afraid to disagree with Ten’s choice. Damned indecisive libras.

 

“Well…” Ten started.

The junior was never the kind of person that just opened up to someone so easily. It usually took years of commitment, loyalty, trust, and pixie dust for Ten to bear his heart and soul to just anyone. However, Xiao Dejun embodied all of that within a few words. Someone delicate, trustworthy, and understanding. He was a person that would hear you out but also give advice when asked. Xiaojun more or less was the equivalent of a really calm and loyal older dog who you’ve grown up with for years. Wise beyond his years with the energy of a weird mixture between an old man and a puppy.

 

So, it only seemed fair that Ten bore his entire soul to Xiaojun in roughly 15 minutes on his living room couch while the other boys recovered the mess in the kitchen.

 

After recounting the earlier events of the day and a few dozen heaving sighs from Ten, Xiaojun softly cleared his throat and inched his hand up to Ten’s shoulder. Ten nodded his head for silent consent and Xiaojun rested his hand there, patting gently.

 

“That was… Wow. I’m so sorry, Ten. Especially going through all of this before finals? I can’t imagine. But I think it’s really cool that you’re still here with everyone and just trying to live out the rest of the semester.” Xiaojun bent an arm down onto his knee and rested his face in his open palm, looking introspective. “Most people would just hole up in their room and try not to see the light of day or just go ghost for awhile but I think it’s pretty cool that you’re trying to do normal stuff.”

 

Ten’s face lightened up a bit from the grimace that had plastered itself on his face when he was retelling his tale. His lips almost hinted at a smile.

 

“You’re proud of me for just doing what I usually do?”

 

Xiaojun returned an incredulous expression back to the older like it was obvious.

 

“Well, I mean, yeah. Last semester, I wasn’t doing too great with adjusting to dorm life, living away from home, the course load, blah blah blah. So, Hendery and I were having a rough patch in our friendship. It didn’t help that I was still getting over my crush on him. So like I just think its gr-”

 

Ten’s brain decided to short circuit at that moment and he held up a hand to stop Xiaojun from speaking further.

 

“Getting over your _what_ now?” Ten inquired.

 

Xiaojun chuckled lightly, turning his head quickly to flick his bangs away from his eyes.

 

“Yeah, no worries. That’s over and done with. I had a thing for him for a month or two when we started college. I hadn’t seen him since junior high and it was just a little crush. But then, ya know…”

 

Ten gestured his hands wildly, exasperated.

 

“No! I do _not_ know! What happened?!”

 

Just then, a loud chorus of cheering and spoons to empty pots could be heard. The guys looked over into the kitchen where Yangyang had put a final candy mold into the fridge and it hadn’t fallen to the ground before it could be chilled. The two youngest decided to celebrate with a kitchenware orchestra while Kun rolled his eyes and tried to suppress a proud, paternal like grin at the process they’d made.

 

Xiaojun’s cheeks tinted a bright pink as he quickly looked away, a toothy grin brightening his features.

 

“Well… we got a neighbor and my feelings went elsewhere.”

Ten’s head whipped back and forth from a blushing Xiaojun who was trying his best to make himself look impossibly smaller in his hoodie to Yangyang, who was a perpetual embodiment of chaotic energy, schemes, and cute otter-like expressions.

 

Well, that was just adorable.

 

Ten smirked, resting a gentle hand on Xiaojun’s other knee.

 

“Good news. I think those feelings are probably in good hands. Tricky, potentially criminal hands, sure. But still, like, good hands.”

 

Xiaojun’s blush deepened and his eyelashes fluttered closed as his breathing steadied. A flustered Xiaojun was one that Ten thought he’d never see considering the younger was always so much more composed and seemingly in control of his poker face but that’s the funny thing about infatuation. It makes any steady person go off kilter.

 

“That’s nice to hear. Thank you.”

 

Xiaojun nodded his head and looked back up, clearing his throat as he heard the sound of pastries being moved to the countertops. They were running out of time to be sentimental.

 

“But back to you. Take every day one step at a time. Focus on your finals and all the fun end of the year events. Call your mom back tomorrow morning. Tonight, you should just have fun before you get any more stressed out. And, if you’re worried about housing in the summer for your dance program…”

 

Xiaojun made grabby hands at his phone and Ten hesitantly slipped the device over to him.

 

“I know a guy that needs a roommate and would definitely be willing to split the very affordable rent with you.”

 

Ten’s face grew into a full blown smile, already knowing where this was heading considering Hendery had mentioned it before they picked the freshmen up from their shared dorm.

 

“He wouldn’t happen to be a vocal performance major participating in the operatics camp this summer and completing some english courses as well, would he?”

 

Xiaojun faked a gasp and finished putting his number in Ten’s phone.

 

“He’s actually the _exact_ person I had in mind. You really are a smart guy. Maybe Hendery was right.”

 

Ten quirked up an eyebrow, face morphing to panic.

 

“Right? Right about what? What do you mean?”

 

Xiaojun smirked as the three other guys migrated from the kitchen into the living room, effectively ending the conversation. The younger did a mocking shrug as Ten looked at him, mouth agape. Xiaojun was an angel but he could tell that being around Yangyang had tainted his angelic qualities just enough for him to be a little evil.

 

It was a pretty nice balance, if Ten had to be honest with himself.

 

* * *

**12:45 a.m. Wednesday, April 3rd**

 

After Doyoung returned to their shared apartment that evening with hot wings and several Redbox films in tow, the boys had a mini-movie marathon and snacked on store-bought frozen cookies that Kun kept in stock to avoid any sticky fingers getting into his fresh-baked goods before they were meant to be consumed.

 

Ten felt unbelievably comforted squished between a much calmer Kun and a genuinely exhausted Hendery. His head drifted off ever so slowly as the boys approached a third film in their marathoning. By the time they’d gotten twenty minutes in, Doyoung was passed out on the floor, Xiaojun and Yangyang had managed to almost cuddle in a large armchair to Ten’s left, and Hendery’s head was being supported by Ten’s chest. Kun was the only person still somehow fully awake, probably still coming down from his adrenaline high from the night’s early baking extravaganza.

 

Then, a whisper.

 

“So, are you too blissed out for me to have everyone go home or am I gonna have to be the party pooper?”

 

Ten rolled his eyes at Kun and nodded his head, waving his free hand at all the sleeping people around him before whispering back.

 

“Yeah, I want to not be wearing pants anymore so we should get everyone going.”

 

Kun shook his head, smirking at Hendery’s hand that was softly curved around Ten’s knee, before standing up and rolling his shoulders back and clapping his hands three times like teachers do to grab their classes attention in primary school.

 

“Alright children, time to go to your own beds!”

 

Doyoung groaned loudly from his place on the floor, hair mussed beyond belief. Xiaojun and Yangyang’s eyes both blinked open slowly, looking at each other before realizing they were basically cradled in each other’s arms. Xiaojun jumped back, almost burying himself into the cushion of the chair. Yangyang turned away, eyes bulged wide. Hendery was the last to wake, slowly lifting his head from Ten’s chest before his own eyes bugged in noticing his placement.

 

“T-Ten, I’m sorry about that. I guess I drifted off. I didn’t m-”

 

Ten waved a hand, smiling warmly.

 

“It’s alright. No harm, no drool, no foul.”

 

Hendery smiled back, placing his hand over his chest before shielding his eyes from the light that Kun had turned on with no warning.

 

“Goddamnit, Kun! Can we please just be dark, menacing vampires shrouded in darkness for a few more minutes?”

 

Kun shook his head violently, collecting plates from the coffee table situated in the middle of the room and pressing the spacebar on his laptop to stop the movie that had been forgotten about in the background.

 

“No! I smell like the Pillsbury dough boy’s asshole and I’m sleepy. I appreciate all of you for your help and I would love to have you over again but I am _exhausted_ and so are all of you.”

 

Yangyang made a point to loudly yawn and stretch his arms into the sky then, face completely blank.

 

“It’s okay, Kun. We know the elderly can’t hang. We get it.”

 

Kun scoffed, tossing plates into the garbage bin and stomping back into the living room, mildly amused.

 

“ _YOU_ were asleep before everyone else, kid. Don’t even try it.”

 

Yangyang shrugged, pointing at his face.

 

“I am baby. I have to sleep to grow.”

 

Kun choked the air in front of him, a mixture of annoyance and amusement painting his expressions over.

 

“You are nineteen! You aren’t likely to grow much more.”

 

“Sure, oldie. Anyway, Dejun,”

 

Yangyang got up from his spot on the armchair, holding out his hand for his neighbor.

 

“Let’s get out of here. The retirement home is closing its doors for the evening.”

 

Kun scoffed again and waved the boys out, quietly thanking the both of them and pushing a tupperware container of extra cookies into their hands as they went.

 

As he closed the door, he sighed while leaning against the back of it before realizing the guys had one more guest to be rid of.

 

“Hendery! You live there too! Shoo! Shoo, you sleepyhead!”

 

Hendery drowsily lifted himself up from the couch and stretched up, glancing at a curled up Ten.

 

“Fine, fine. I’ll be out of your hair. Can I just use the restroom before I head out?”

 

Doyoung lifted his arm like a zombie from the grave and motioned his finger to the hallway. Muffled from the pillow still smushed against his face, he responded.

 

“ _Down the hall, first door on the right. If you go one more door down, you can glance into Ten’s room and look at his unmade bed.”_

 

Ten chucked a throw pillow and it landed hard on the small of Doyoung’s back. He groaned in pain as he rolled over.

 

“You are a culmination of chip bags and sweatpants. Don’t get mad at me because I’m right.”

 

Ten rolled his eyes as Hendery excused himself to the restroom. Kun had finished tidying up their living room as the youngest of them walked down the hall. Kun made a grabby hand gesture to Doyoung and lifted him up from the floor to push him into his room for bed. The two walked to the hallway, leaving Ten alone in the living room.

 

Doyoung looked back to glance at Ten, tired but still managing to smirk.

 

“Remember he has to go home BEFORE 3 am.”

 

Kun chuckled lightly and pushed Doyoung closer to his bedroom.

 

The sound of the faucet could be heard and for some reason, alone in the living room, Ten felt more nervous than he had all day.

 

The light in the hallway flicked off and Hendery rounded the corner, leaning his head against the threshold exiting the hallway. He gazed over to Ten, still curled up on the sofa.

 

“You look like a super drowsy cat.”

 

Ten scoffed, chucking a freshly fluffed pillow in his direction.

 

“And you look like a super sleepy dog. Time for bed, pup.”

 

Hendery laughed silently, crossing the space and sitting in his former position that night on the couch, right next to Ten.

 

“But what if I don’t want to sleep? What if I want to bake some more cookies?”

 

Ten scoffed, gently pushing Hendery with one hand.

 

“Yeah, you go wake Kun up and tell him you wanna destroy his kitchen again. We’ll see how long you live.”

 

Hendery rubbed the back of his neck.

 

“Alright, you make a valid argument.”

 

A comfortable silence formed between them for a moment, the two just glancing at one another. Hendery was searching for something in Ten’s eyes but Ten didn’t want to break his concentration so he just stayed silent, enjoying the moment.

 

“Hey,” Hendery spoke gently.

 

“Yeah?” Ten questioned.

 

“Are you… gonna be alright? I can always stay if you need me too. I wouldn’t mind as long as you’re okay.”

 

Ten’s heart swelled as he let a tiny smile slip onto his face.

 

“Ah, sweet Henderson, I’ll be okay.”

 

Hendery rolled his eyes at the nickname and Ten laughed quietly, placing a hand on the other boy’s knee.

 

“No, really, like, I appreciate it. Genuinely. But you’ve done more than enough for me today. Plus, your roommate actually relieved a little bit of my stress today.” Ten rubbed small circles on Hendery’s knee as he spoke. “The worst of it is over, I think. I just have to talk to my mom tomorrow and then figure out the rest. I’ll be okay. Don’t worry.”

 

Hendery smiled softly in return, patting Ten’s hand on his knee a couple times for good measure. Ten’s heart squeezed in his chest.

 

“Okay. As long as you’re, like, okay. I’m definitely still going to worry. That’s one of my jobs now but I guess I’ll just worry... a little less.”

 

Ten sighed dramatically, crossing his arms over his chest in mock resign.

 

“Fine. I’ll settle for a little less then.”

 

Hendery looked at him, slightly amused and then his expression grew a little more firm, almost serious in nature.

 

“Ten, you should never settle. You of all people deserve only the best.”

 

Ten looked at him in the only way he knew how, fondly. He smiled at him, probably a little too dopey and probably way too loving but he just couldn’t resist it. He never seemed to resist Hendery.

 

**1:10 a.m. Wednesday**

 

Hendery’s pocket pinged then and he reached for his phone, only breaking eye contact with Ten for a second.

 

“Ah, shit. I forgot to put the spare key back under the rug after I used it. Dejun said he’s gonna crash in Yangyang’s room for a little but I should probably head back.”

 

He looked almost sad about it, lips forming into a slight pout but Ten wouldn’t have it.

 

“Hey, go save your roommate and sleep. You’ll see me tomorrow.”

 

Ten smiled as he stretched up from the couch and grabbed Hendery’s hand who followed him along to the door.

 

“Yeah, tomorrow?”

 

Ten held out his pinky, a giddy expression encompassing his features despite the late hour.

 

“Same time tomorrow. Only pinkies.”

 

Hendery’s face broke out into a breathtaking smile as he linked their pinkies together again and then after they shook, Ten ushered him gently out the door and watched him walk away until long after he had left his line of sight.

 

The day had been long. It had been stressful. But, Ten could definitely say that it had been filled with more smiles than tears and he would count that as a victory.

 

He trudged to his room and shut his door, climbing into bed for the evening.

 

A notification from his phone interrupted his fast lull into dream land.

 

_one text notification from: eyebrow supreme :)_

 

_Hendery just got back. Any reason why he looks like he just won the lottery? c:_

 

Attached to the text was one very blurry, very sleepy, and completely blissed out Hendery entering their shared dorm room.

 

Ten bit down a smile and typed up a simple text in response before crashing that night.

 

_idk what ur talking about. glad he didn’t get eaten by bears though. get some sleep, kid! gn!_

 

Xiaojun responded with a simple star emoji and Ten watched his phone fade to a black screen almost instantly.

 

Hendery hadn’t hit the lottery that night and neither had Ten. But as the junior nodded off into sleep, he felt like he had definitely struck gold with how lucky he was that whole evening.

 

And despite everything, maybe his luck would continue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you’ve reached the end of this, you just finished reading chapter 5!
> 
> I’d like to first apologize for the long hiatus. Personally, my mental state had been at an all time low for the entire month of June into July. But now, I’m stabilizing again and I’m finally able to live almost normally again. Thank you all for being patient with me and I hope you can understand.  
> I’ll try to update regularly again but I can’t be absolutely certain. However, this story does have a beginning, middle, and end so please stick around!! 
> 
> anyway, as always, thank you for reading!! join me again for chapter 6!
> 
> for any comments, questions, or concerns.  
> my twitter and curious cat is: @96hearts


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